CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The department of transportation for CCISD will start their school year with the same issue as last year— a shortage of bus drivers.
Victor Garcia has been a bus driver with CCISD for 20 years. He's one of 79 drivers in the district. Currently, they are missing 41 drivers.
With over two hundred routes, several employees, including the director of transportation Kyle Pelichet, will be jumping in to help out throughout the school year.
“Routes do run a bit longer when we are short bus drivers as we are now what we’ve been able to do is utilize our office staff, supervisors, and our vehicle technicians or mechanics to actually fill in to drive bus routes," Pelichet said.
With the addition of the district’s new programs, campus consolidations, and new campuses opening, the district is anticipating some route changes and some routes running a bit longer than usual.
"It’s incredible because our transportation department no matter how short we are we pull through; we make it,” Garcia said.
Currently, the starting pay for a bus driver with no experience is $18.32 an hour, and the district is offering a one-thousand-dollar sign-on bonus.
Pelichet added there are other perks as well.
"If you don’t already possess a commercial driver's license, we have a training program that will help them get their commercial driver's license CDL, and we have a training program here that helps provide that for them,” he said.
CCISD is offering a three-week paid training program, a benefits package, and a new payroll structure.
"We went to a new system of payroll which provides annual pay for bus drivers, but in the past, it wasn’t they work 185 days and that’s where their school year ended and now this year is the first year, they are paid year-round," Pelichet said.
Going forward, they will continue offering that.
The director of transportation does hope to hire more bus drivers throughout the school year.
He also recommends that parents should talk school bus safety with their children.
He added, "If they are an eligible bus rider, make sure they know their bus route and their bus stop location before the start of school."
For more information on CCISD Transportation. They can also contact their office at 361-695-7610 or click here.
