SUMTER, S.C. — Right now, the Sumter School District (SSD) is searching for new bus drivers to try and cut down on the time students spend waiting for their buses to arrive. The district has launched a new campaign, hoping to fill 16 openings.
“It was imperative that I needed the bus to at least pick her up in the mornings,” Sumter resident Denise Baker explained about her daughter.
Baker says when she enrolled her daughter at Alice Drive Elementary this fall, transportation was an important factor. At first, Baker said had some issues with the bus coming late — or not at all. Recently, Baker says it’s been more reliable.
“It's gotten a lot better but I'm also kind of in that fear of if the bus driver is sick, or you know, she has a doctor's appointment so I just don't know what's going to happen,” Baker shared.
To try and meet that need, SSD has launched a campaign, highlighting 16 reasons to become a school bus driver to recruit people like Icybell Dickey-Lowery, who’s been a bus operator for 43 years.
“There are days when one will come up, snotty nose and all, 'Miss Lowery, I love you,” she explained about interactions with kids. “Woo wee! Things like that, it matters and it makes you feel good about yourself that you're doing something, you're touching somebody, you know, it just…I love my job but I love my kids more than anything else.”
Lowery is hoping that by spreading that love to other drivers, the district can shorten routes and decrease the number of students in each bus.
“It gives the children an opportunity to get to school on time,” SSD’s Lead Supervisor Brian Jones said. “It's going to reduce long routes. It's going to reduce a long day for a sleepy child that’s got up at six o'clock in the morning.”
Jones says there are 16 open positions. In the last month, Jones says 27 people have applied like former truck driver Jaquan Thomas, who recently started his new job.
“I kind of wanted to be home everyday and I got tired of being on the road alone. And the children make sure you're never alone because they're always here,” Thomas laughed before explaining his favorite part of the job. “Seeing the students mainly in the afternoons because that's when they're really themselves. That's when they really have a lot of energy. And that's when they really want to make you laugh, so you get most of your laughs in the afternoon.”
Now, Thomas says he’s working every day, making it a priority to show up on time, alongside other new hires like Jenna Freeman, who is a mother to three kids in the district.
“I don't want to be late. I want those kids to be able to be there on time,” Freeman shared. “And should they want to eat breakfast be able to do that and the things that they can do in the mornings, you know what I mean? And I know they got to get up early. Those kids gotta get up early, but they're there, waiting for you.”
Right now, the district says it has 70 drivers who operate 326 different routes. Lowery says looking back on recent years, she’s noticed the buses getting fuller with students.
“Because the route became longer and you have more kids on the bus,” Lowery detailed. “And a lot of times the kids when you’re driving for high school, putting three on the seat is sort of stuffy for them. But if we can get more bus drivers, we can shorten up some of those routes. We can take some of those kids off this bus and put them on another bus and it's going to be more comfortable. It’s safe already, so it's not going to be safer. It used to be a little bit more comfortable for the older kids to be, so I'm hoping we can get some more bus drivers.”
The "16 Reasons Why You Should Become a School Bus Driver" campaign highlights benefits like community impact, pride in service, summer and holidays off and a flexible schedule.
Another reason: "competitive pay." SSD says it increased the minimum pay to $18 an hour to try and recruit and retain employees.
“The pay has been increased. It's increased over a period of time but the most significant increase went from $12 to $18. And that in itself has really turned on some light bulbs,” SSD Executive Director of Operations Samuel Myers said.
“I think it's because of the pay. I think it's because of the…I would say not fellowship but…the people,” Lowery added about why she thinks the district has seen so many applicants. “The bus drivers, we’re a team. We are a family. And you know when you can talk about your bus driver, and you're getting along, you're doing this, and we celebrate each other's birthdays sometime, we have a little club that we call the Birthday Club, different things than that. It makes a difference.”
When it comes to Baker’s impression of the campaign, she thinks “that’s a start.”
“I would like to see more bus drivers,” Baker elaborated about the effort to resolve the issues she’s experienced. “Personally, the communication is one of the biggest things just to know where's this bus? Where's my child getting home? How long should I wait? Those are very important.”
Cle McDonald-Amaker is a mother to one daughter currently at Sumter High School and three other children who have graduated from the district. McDonald-Amaker remembers experiencing issues with late or no-show buses back in 2019.
“If you're missing out on the first 15 to 20 minutes of classroom time, that does have a huge impact on their academic standards,” McDonald-Amaker explained. “Whether they're needing to get their notes later on, or you know, like I've recognized from some children that if they're not getting to school in time, then they're not getting breakfast sometimes. And that makes a huge impact on how do you even focus if you haven't even had any nourishment that morning and you're waiting for the bus to get there so that you can get to the cafeteria and get your breakfast?”
Because of the unpredictable buses, McDonald-Amaker opted to drive her kids to school each morning. At the time, McDonald-Amaker says her complaints to the district didn’t lead to change. Although now she doesn’t use rely on SSD’s busing system to get her youngest daughter to school anymore, McDonald-Amaker says she is glad to hear the district is taking measures to solve the persisting issues.
“For me and myself, I can only say that that is a great step. And I'm glad to hear that the initiative has been, I guess you could say, enforced and executed because what I remember during that timeframe, that was what I was looking for,” McDonald–Amaker reflected on her time waiting with her children at the bus stops back in 2019. “And unfortunately I know they didn't have the answers then, but I'm glad that they're finding the resolution to get this done for children now.”