SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS SCARCE; STRONG ECONOMY DIVERTS MANY TRANSPORT COMPANY APPLICANTS.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande and Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

A booming economy and a low jobless rate may seem like ideal situations to some, but to area school districts these are simply more obstacles to finding enough drivers to keep their buses moving on time.

Districts tell of the mad scramble to coordinate bus routes and of employees who normally work behind a desk getting pushed behind the wheel in a pinch, in an effort to get thousands of students to and from school every day.

Officials said bus drivers are ordinarily hard to come by because people are turned off by the part-time hours, split shifts and having to discipline sometimes unruly children. But the situation has gotten even worse as the economy has gotten better.

Donald Zimring, assistant superintendent of business services for the Las Virgenes Unified School District, said its transportation contractor, Duram Transportation Inc., has done a valiant effort in the face of a shortage of bus drivers this year.

``It's a very strong economy, which means people don't want to drive buses because they can find other jobs,'' Zimring said.

Still, he said that earlier in the semester there was a day when about half a dozen drivers were out sick with the flu, and there weren't enough substitutes available to cover their routes.

``Youngsters stood at the stops and didn't get picked up and the buses were running half an hour to an hour behind schedule,'' Zimring said. ``Which, for a school district, that's unheard of. You can't do that. Kids can't be an hour late to school.''

The district, which has 12,000 students, does regular home-to-school busing for grades K-12. It has about 30 buses covering a spread-out territory of 89 square miles.

Still, with all the potential for problems, school officials insist things are running smoothly.

At A.E. Wright Middle School, which has 14 buses, the most in the district, principal Michael Botsford said he has not been adversely impacted by the crunch.

``Duram usually has them right here ready to roll,'' he said. ``I know there is scrambling for drivers but from my point of view it hasn't been a major problem for us.''

Moorpark Unified School District officials, who bus approximately 2,500 students a day, said schools cannot deny there have been times when buses are late. But for the most part, the schools are coping well.

Larry Brown, assistant superintendent of business, said Moorpark has stepped up its advertising to fill its 20 driving positions but is still looking for two more.

He said people generally are not banging down their doors because it is a demanding job.

``You put 50 to 60 kids in the back of your car and drive somewhere for a while,'' he said. ``Also, they have to make sure they keep them under control and provide a safe environment. There is a lot of pressure, and the traffic in Moorpark adds to the challenge.''

Nearby, the Simi Valley Unified School District has all but eliminated its substitute driver pool because those on the list have been working every day to make up for drivers who are out on leave or call in sick.

``We have times when we have to use driver trainers to do back-up, when we don't have enough bus drivers,'' said Lowell Schultze, assistant superintendent of business, ``And our dispatcher has to drive when we get in real bad shape.''

Nationally, more than 70 percent of school bus contractors reported driver shortages in a survey done this summer for School Bus Fleet, a Torrance-based national trade publication.

``This is a chronic problem,'' said Steve Hirano, editor of School Bus Fleet. ``It's been around for years and years, but it has gotten worse recently. There is a growing concern that school districts and contractors aren't going to be able to field enough drivers from year to year. There are real safety concerns there.''

He said some of the reasons for the shortage were part-time hours, split shifts and the thought that children are more difficult to deal with now than they used to be.

The solution, he said, is improving driver training and providing more ergonomic buses, with electric doors and better instrument panels that reduce the repetitive stress injuries that arise on the job.

Hirano said some companies have come up with incentives to retain drivers - including giving bonuses for drivers who return after summer layover and paying new hires as they go through training and certification process, which can take up to two months.

School districts that provide the service in-house said they don't use public funds to provide incentives, but they do try to be competitive in salary.

A starting driver in Moorpark would expect to make about $11.20 per hour, while a starting driver in Simi Valley would make $12.87 - Simi Valley drivers recently got a pay raise.

Bruce Heddin, dispatcher for Simi Valley, said his drivers regularly recruit among the schools' campus supervisors, who are already working part-time for the district and so would be willing to take only part-time hours.

``We take anyone with a clean driving record that can get past the fingerprint test,'' he said.

All districts said that when it comes down to it, anyone who is certified to drive a bus is pulled into duty when necessary, even though it takes away from their regular jobs.

``I'm happy to say I'm not legally qualified,'' Moorpark's Brown said.

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PHOTO (color) A.E. Wright Middle School has 14 buses, the most in the Las Virgenes district. The school transport contractor has struggled to keep buses running despite a driver shortage.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News