Across the nation, schools are struggling to hire enough bus drivers to transport students every day. This issue is impacting the Lake Stevens School District as well. The driver shortage impacts students’ abilities to get to and from school and to achieve their full educational potential.
Students see this issue appear time after time, making it difficult for them to get to school.
“The bus got canceled because we have a shortage of drivers, and our driver had to go for a different bus,” Junior Katherine Holcombs said.
Many students rely on the bus for transportation as many students can’t drive or have no one to drive them to school. Without the bus, they have no way to arrive on campus. This affects their ability to learn and do work, which will moreover impact their grades in classes.
“Both of my parents work, I’ve been a latchkey kid my whole life. It’s made getting to and from school a nightmare and a half, trying to figure out if I’m going to be able to get a ride,” Holcombs said.
Furthermore, whether or not all students are not experiencing this issue, they surely hear of it through the school, news, or friends.
“I’ve heard of it happening before. And I know that it’s gonna happen again this year because of this bus driver that we have, gets called off to do a lot of different buses,” Holcombs said.
It becomes very frustrating to students whose attendance is disturbed due to this. The bus driver shortage is affecting our school and the community within it.
