Anne Arundel County hit hard by bus driver shortage
BROOKLYN PARK, Md. -- The school bus driver shortage continues to be a major problem in many districts, but Anne Arundel County is being hit particularly hard.
WJZ first showed you images Tuesday of an overcrowded school bus that appeared to show some students sitting on the ground.
"I was honestly disturbed and pretty angry because just the safety factor alone," said Charles Jones, a parent in the county. "We know that Anne Arundel County is having issues to fill positions with bus drivers - which is understandable, everybody is having issues - but to put kids' safety at risk like that is not acceptable."
Anne Arundel County officials said they still need about 45 drivers, but the they have 71 drivers who are in the process of being hired. Baltimore County officials said they need about 50 drivers and they have an additional 39 in the pipeline. And Howard County said the district need about 85 drivers.
Anne Arundel County Public Schools also pushed back start times by an hour for some high school seniors, pointing to the health benefits for students.
Bus drivers told WJZ that because the school start times are now so close to each other, there isn't enough time for pick-ups.
On Wednesday, about 70 bus routes in the county with hundreds of students had no service.
"It's absolutely crazy," said Stacey Caplan, a bus driver. "Nightmare because we don't have the spare drivers to pick up because it was already a shortage. So the time change should have not been implemented until the bus driver shortage was a little more under control."
Bob Mosier, the Anne Arundel County Public Schools spokesperson, said buses are able to hold three students per seat but in some cases only two students are sitting in them. And improvements to the problems are already happening.
"The vastly improved pick up system and the crowding situation on buses is going to get better every single day," said Mosier. "It's better this afternoon than it was this morning. It's better this morning than it was yesterday afternoon. The number of buses without drivers is a more difficult problem to solve. "
