Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools students and families who rely on school buses will likely experience an influx of delays after more than two dozen staff members are out due to COVID-19 protocols.
The district shared an alert on Friday afternoon, telling families that several of its bus drivers recently tested positive for the virus, felt ill, or were possibly exposed. At the time, several routes were delayed as drivers covered shifts for elementary, middle and high school students.
On Sunday, CHCCS leadership forecasted even more delays for families over Monday and Tuesday. A message to families said while the drivers “are appropriately staying home until they can return to work,” 21 of the district’s normal bus routes are not expected to have a driver.
“As of Sunday afternoon, at least 25 staff members (out of 42 drivers plus office staff) are out for the next several days,” wrote CHCCS Chief Communications Officer Andy Jenks.
Now, the district is asking families to make alternate plans to get their students to school — whether by driving them individually, carpooling or calling the CHCCS Transportation office. Sunday’s message said families could call the officer at 919-942-5045 beginning Monday at 6:30 a.m. to request the district have another bus pick up students as soon as the vehicles are available after 9 a.m. CHCCS said the students who travel this way will not be considered “tardy” for their classes, according to the alert.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools said for both mornings and afternoons, elementary school and EC bus routes will be covered first “to the best of [their] abilities” before moving to middle and high school routes. The result is expected delays for the older students. The district also said in the afternoons for buses’ drop-off of elementary students, families are requested to receive their children at the bus stop so they are not driven back to school campuses and delays are extended further.
Additionally, CHCCS said it is getting in touch with neighboring school districts that are off for Presidents Day on Monday — as well as Chapel Hill Transit — to see if any assistance is possible.
Here is a list of the 21 bus routes that Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools said will be uncovered on Tuesday, February 21. (CHCCS officials initially said 23 routes would not be running, but two of those routes – Bus 71 and EC Bus 143 – are back in service now.)
- Bus 7
- Bus 19
- Bus 20
- Bus 22
- Bus 40
- Bus 65
- Bus 66
- Bus 67
- Bus 76
- Bus 81
- Bus 89 (newly added)
- Bus 114
- Bus 115 (newly added)
- Bus 116
- EC Bus 130
- Bus 131
- Bus 139 (newly added)
- EC Bus 141 (newly added)
- Bus 144
- Bus 247
- Bus 256 (newly added)
CHCCS Has Experienced Shortages Since October
Driver shortages is not a new experience for the school district, as several bus routes have periodically gone uncovered this fall and winter. Similar to many other school systems locally and nationwide, CHCCS has seen their staffing drop in recent years. To try and address this, the district’s Board of Education approved a new salary of $20 per hour for drivers moving forward — whether recently hired or already on-staff.
In a recent interview with 97.9 The Hill, Jenks recalled when the problem first arose.
“This first surfaced for us in late October, and it was a real alarm centrally – unbelievably, we had a bus that didn’t have a driver,” he said. “It was really startling at the time. So, we had emails and robocalls and text messages going out – every platform we had. Little did we know, as the school year went on, this would become an almost daily occurrence.”
Now, on average, the district estimates that elementary and middle school buses are 60 minutes late to students whenever a morning route is unassigned, and buses to high school students are thirty minutes late.
According to a recent presentation by staff, that missed time adds up. Chief Operations Officer Andre’ Stewart shared data of the average number of students on each bus and the estimated amount of missed instruction based on how late delays typically are. The results? Thousands of hours of missed class time.
“If we are to convert hours into whole days,” he said, “we would basically say that at the high school level, this would cause a student to miss two complete days of school. At the middle school level, it would be three [days] and at the elementary school level it would be a whole day of school.”
More communication from CHCCS leadership is expected in coming days about further driver shortages and delays, while any significant bus delays for specific routes or schools will be shared each afternoon.
Photo via the Town of Chapel Hill.
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