WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Wilson County teacher is stepping up to the plate and meeting a need for more bus drivers.
“I do both, I do the morning route and the afternoon, and I also sub for down routes if there are other down buses in need, especially at the high school and middle school levels,” said Dr. April Harris, Wilson County bus driver and teacher.
Down bus routes in Wilson County have nearly doubled this year compared to last.
Despite the stats, the transportation director said they have made improvements over the past few years regarding bus driver shortages.
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“I’m walking up the halls and they are like that’s my bus driver there’s Dr. Harris. It just puts a smile on their face and even bigger on mine,” Dr. Harris said.
Harris has been teaching in the Wilson County district for 20 years. About three years ago, she also decided to drive a school bus.
“We would get a lot of emails about down routes and for my students that was their way to school and some of my seniors were missing school, and it was impacting their grades,” Dr. Harris said.
Bus driver shortages have been a concern across Middle Tennessee for years. Monday night, the Wilson County Transportation Director, Kenny Hardaway, said the district has seen improvements on that front. However, when it comes to down routes, last year there were 78 down routes, this year there have been 136.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had a lot of people with illness,” said Hardaway.
“We do have routes not on time or down and it’s hard on working parents to get their kids to school,” Angela Butler said.
Butler created a Facebook page so parents and even school bus drivers can communicate.
“Parents can communicate ‘Is bus 452 is it running late?’ And someone will say, ‘Yes, it’s running late they just picked up my kid five minutes ago,’” Butler said.
In order to retain bus drivers, school board members suggested bus driver aides to help with behavioral issues.
“When you have 80 students, and you are going down the interstate and all you can do is see and talk to them through your rear-view window it’s nice to have another adult on the bus to help,” Dr. Harris said.
