Dear Hartford School District Community,
As many of you know there is a national shortage of school bus drivers.
We have been working diligently with our transportation provider, Butler Bus Service, to try to resolve our local issues with transportation. In the spirit of collaboration, we have come up with some ideas that hopefully will enhance our ability to increase the number of drivers for our district.
There are several reasons we want you to think about driving a school bus for us. The first and most important, is to make sure our students get to school and home safely and timely. Second, it could be a nice source of income and beneficial for your family. Three, it would be a way to ensure your student gets to their extra-curricular activity, be it a sporting event, field trip or class activity.
Home to school drivers in our district normally drive anywhere from 20 to 24 hours a week, at a minimum rate of $20 an hour, which equates to $400 to $480 a week. This work provides the driver with a lot of flexibility as it is 2 hours or less in the early morning hours and 2 hours or less in the late afternoon. Regardless of the exact hours there is a guaranteed minimum of 20 hours per week for all home to school route drivers.
This schedule allows drivers to do other work during the day. Some drivers choose to take on other driving responsibilities such as field trips, special school trips during the day and sports trips after school. There are some drivers who drive 20 to 25 hours a week, and then there are others who drive 60 hours a week.
Currently, Butler Bus Service is offering additional incentives for new drivers which include a $3,000 sign on bonus and paid training, see their flier HERE.
The Hartford School Board, Superintendent and Butler Bus Service is reaching out to all our staff, parents and community members to see if being a bus driver might work for you. If you think it might or if you have questions, please contact Butler Bus Service at 802-788-4322 or the Superintendent's Office at 802-295-8600.
We are all hoping that the Hartford School District Community will come together and help us solve this problem. We are all Hurricanes!
Kevin Coach Christie, Chair
Hartford School Board
Emo Chynoweth, VP
Butler Bus Service
Tom DeBalsi
Superintendent of Schools