The South Bend Community School Corporation may try to solve its transportation challenges by letting teachers drive school buses. Superintendent Mansour Eid says he got the idea at a recent superintendents conference and is thinking about offering it in South Bend when security staff meets on the next record day.
"We are going to extend an offer to them, if they want a raise, and if they want to be trained, we can train them and, hopefully, get over that hump," Eid told the school board Wednesday.
A lack of drivers has led the school corporation to seek outside contractors to help fill the gap. Eid told the school board Wednesday that the district currently has 110 drivers, and it needs about 15 more. Some were hired during a hiring event in August, and another event is planned on September 29. Eid hopes there will be enough drivers that the use of security staff won’t be needed.
He said the school corporation is working to address recent transportation “glitches.” “Every day is an improvement, and hopefully, all these issues will be a thing of the past,” Eid told board members.
He said that there were also 28 vacant teaching positions as of last week, down from 112 the same time last year. Board members voted Wednesday to begin the negotiation process on a new teacher contract.
