BUS

Due to a recent loss of bus drivers the district may have to reduce school activities.
According to Mr. Garza, four or five bus drivers were released for undisclosed reasons, leaving the district short-handed. Their main priorities are getting students to school, to home, and to sporting events. The cut backs will come from the districts last priority, field trips. Classes or clubs that wish to take field trips are being asked to take charter buses instead of school buses.
The drivers who are still employed are consequently forced to work extra hours without extra pay. Most drivers do not seem to mind this and the extra hours do go to their retirement hours. The real problem is there’s a national law that prohibits bus drivers from working over 16 hours in a day. This means that some drivers are reaching the end of their 16 hours late at night with a bus load of kids that still need to get home. Already the Pep Band has absorbed some of these consequences when they were forced to leave early from a football game in Kingsburg because their driver’s time limit had almost expired.
In order to help pick up the slack of the missing drivers some of the bus mechanics have been forced to drive buses since they’re also certified as drivers. However, with only three mechanics handling all the district’s bus repair responsibilities they can’t afford to lose any of them. They could be in the middle of an important job when they get called to drive making it more difficult for them to get that job done. Also, since none of the mechanics are regular bus drivers the job is that much more difficult. Said one mechanic, “When you don’t drive everyday there are things that you forget.” The mechanics also are not receiving any financial compensation for their extra duties. When asked if they minded driving buses one replied, “That is not our main responsibility, that is an added responsibility, our main responsibility is working on these buses and keeping them safe to get you home.”