Hundreds of Hawaii families are scrambling to get their children to school as a chronic school bus driver shortage worsened by the latest COVID-19 surge has led to the temporary suspension of dozens of routes, mostly on Hawaii island.
State Rep. Jeanne Kapela, (D, Naalehu-Captain Cook-Keauhou), says she has received a flood of calls and emails from constituents who are frustrated by the bus interruptions.
Some students in Kapela’s district live at least 90 minutes away from their schools, she said.
Many parents have had to struggle to hunt down carpool rides, change their work commute so they can drive their children to campus, or call out from work to stay home when bus service has been canceled on short notice.
“This has been a nationwide issue. In Hawaii it’s been incredibly bad in specific areas — the Nanakuli coast, the rural areas, Maui. And then Hawaii island has been hit particularly hard,” said Kapela, who is the vice chairwoman of the House Education Committee.
A bus route list on the state Department of Education website on Friday evening showed 28 bus routes on Hawaii island temporarily suspended, as of its latest update Jan. 20. The suspended bus routes affect 19 out of the 41 elementary, middle and high schools on the island.
Some schools had temporarily lost some of their routes, while others were still operating. At Hilo High and Hilo Intermediate schools, for example, two out of their five shared bus routes were running, while three were suspended. Honaunau Elementary and Chiefess Kapiolani Elementary, meanwhile, were among a handful of schools that each showed its one route suspended “until further notice.”
Two bus routes on Oahu, serving Waianae High and Intermediate schools, also are suspended. The website says it is “due to road conditions.”
However, Kapela said residents in that and other outlying communities have reported bus cancellations in the past due to a lack of drivers.
CAPTAIN Cook resident Lorraine Keohuloa said one of her granddaughters, who attends Konawaena Middle School, has been on a waiting list for bus transportation since the start of the school year. She’s been told the waiting list is three pages long. The campus is 5 miles away from home, so walking is not an option.
“Sometimes I get my grandson to pick her up, sometimes her uncle picks her up, sometimes the mom has to leave work early to pick her up. It’s tough,” Keohuloa said.
While another granddaughter attending Konawaena Elementary School was also temporarily without bus transportation, service has since resumed, Keohuloa said. However, routes are now being combined, so her bus is more crowded, and the longer ride brings her home about 15 minutes later than before.
Still, Keohuloa feels lucky to have any bus service. “I’m hearing from parents all over the island: They’re scrambling,” she said.
When Kapela was asked whether she knew how many students were affected by the suspended bus routes and whether those students were missing classes or managing to get to school by other means, she expressed frustration, saying her office’s request to DOE for such data had not been granted.
The DOE’s response to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for counts of affected students and other data: “This question is too broad to answer precisely, as the effects can include route schedule changes, route suspensions, alternate transportation, traffic impacts and others.”
THE Hawaii bus driver shortage is just one example of a perfect storm of problems striking school systems across the nation.
The 2020 start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many schools shifted to virtual learning, triggered a national exodus of bus drivers who either contracted the coronavirus, got furloughed, or opted to quit or find other jobs.
In a National Association for Pupil Transportation survey last fall, 78% of 1,500 school districts that responded said their bus driver shortages were worsening, with 51% describing the crisis as “severe” or “desperate.” In some mainland school districts, pay raises and signing bonuses have been offered, and the National Guard or other agencies have been called on to assist. One Delaware school offered parents $700 per child to drive their own children to school for the year.
In Hawaii, the DOE serves about 15,000 student riders on Oahu and 18,000 on the neighbor islands, according to its website.
Kapela said with the COVID-19 pandemic and driver shortage having dragged on for nearly two years now, she can’t understand why the DOE has not yet come up with a comprehensive and publicly transparent solution, including offering distance learning options to families that can’t do without bus service.
In a Jan. 18 House hearing with the DOE, Kapela said to interim school Superintendent Keith Hayashi, “With the (coronavirus) case counts skyrocketing basically throughout the DOE, cases being under-reported in schools, and thousands of teachers calling out sick, and kids not being able to get to the classroom … don’t you think it’s time that we maybe follow the lead of some other schools across the country and return to possible distance learning, at least until things normalize?”
IN THE hearing, Hayashi and Randall Tanaka, assistant superintendent for the DOE’s Office of Facilities and Operations, said the department was considering possible remedies, such as staggered school schedules, combined bus routes and use of passenger vans, but did not give a timeline for implementation.
Emily Evans, administrator of the Student Transportation Services Branch, said in an email that bus routes “have been and continue to be consolidated as needed to maintain service and cover as many bus stops wherever possible. Route runs have been doubled and in some places tripled to increase seating capacity.”
Evans added that bus contractors statewide have been offering hiring bonuses, relocation incentives and attractive benefits and wages to attract more drivers. Attempts to recruit licensed commercial drivers from the National Guard, tour bus operators, other school bus contractors, and active and retired firefighters were unsuccessful due to labor shortages and the liability requirements, she said.
She added that Honolulu and Hawaii counties have distributed county bus passes to students. Mileage reimbursement has been provided to families who qualify for bus transportation but can drive their own kids to school.
