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Wanted: Bus Drivers; Must Love Children

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 4, 2007

TAMPA - Need extra money while finishing that graduate degree?

Looking for a second income as the real estate market cools in Tampa?

In its quest to end tardy school buses, the Hillsborough County School District wants to recruit part-time drivers. Prime targets: older college students, Realtors and off-duty firefighters.

Other suggestions welcomed.

The recruits would help augment a staff of about 1,000 drivers and lessen the sting of nearly 100 vacancies, said John Franklin, the district's transportation chief.

Chronically late school buses, which has translated into constantly late students, has Franklin looking for creative solutions. There's talk of revamping bus routes, even starting school later.

Franklin has turned to the public for ideas, talking with officials at job-training facilities and chatting with parents. Reaching out to the community is something he tried back in Texas, where he worked for a local school district.

"I didn't fill all my vacancies," acknowledged Franklin, who was hired by Hillsborough three months ago.

However, he learned who best fit the bus-driver dynamic: clean driving record, good rapport with children, sharp critical-thinking skills.

Off-duty firefighters are great candidates because they work in shifts with a couple of days off in a row, and they are trained to quickly assess a situation. Plus, most know how to drive a firetruck, which might make it easier to obtain a license to drive a commercial bus.

Approaching Realtors was a parent idea, driven by the fact the real estate market has taken a nose dive. Franklin also saw an opportunity for Realtors to pass along employment opportunities to their clients.

As for college students, Franklin didn't have to reach far for that one. He drove a school bus part time while completing his graduate degree in public administration at then-Southwest Texas State University.

For the better part of a year, Franklin ferried children ranging from kindergarten to high school age. The most challenging was middle school, he said. The hours didn't interfere with his studies, and the job became a labor of love.

"You really get hooked on it," Franklin said.

Flexible hours and benefits could be appealing for other students as well, said Franklin, who hopes to make that pitch to local colleges.

"I think there would be a good turnout if it's properly marketed," said Nathan Davison, president of the University of South Florida Student Senate.

With 38,000 students at the Tampa campus, "Chances are someone would be interested," the 21-year-old business major said. "I think it's a pretty cool idea."

But would he do it? Maybe, if it wasn't so hectic being senate president, he said.

Luis Perez, president of the Hillsborough School Employee Federation, a trade union that includes bus drivers, agrees the idea is worthwhile.

"But I don't believe it's going to work," he said. "We don't have a problem getting drivers. It's keeping them."

That's due mainly to the stress, he said. Drivers not only deal with children, there's traffic and parents. Perez also blames the loss of drivers on the district's safe-driver plan, which punishes drivers for errors the state doesn't, he said.

Part-time drivers 21 and older undergo about 30 days of training that includes obtaining a commercial license, and earn $10.56 an hour. After six months, they are eligible for benefits that include health insurance and retirement plans.

For information, call the school board at (813) 272-4000 or go to the Web site at www.sdhc.k12.fl.us.

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144 or sackerman@tampatrib.com.

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