School Bus Fleet, February 2021

NEWS 11 HEAVY DUTY WHEELCHAIR TIE DOWNS qstraint com qrt 360 Every Hero Needs a Sidekick Reynoldsburg City Schools recently agreed to share more than a dozen of its school bus drivers with neighboring Hilliard City Schools so it could continue operations during the pandemic Dr John Marschhausen superintendent of Hilliard City Schools told WBNS on Jan 8 that his school district was experiencing a driver shortage this winter due to COVID 19 quarantines and paid time of To help alleviate the issue Marschhausen added one of the districts business managers came up with the idea of using bus drivers from Reynoldsburg City Schools to help transport their hybrid learning students to school While both districts have tried at different times to keep their school bus drivers employed with other district jobs the partnership with Reynoldsburg City Schools has been a win win in keeping drivers paid Marschhausen told WBNS He added that the bus drivers are still getting checks from Reynoldsburg City Schools but Hilliard foots the bill for the cost of the drivers Hilliard City Schools currently has a total of 130 bus drivers Stacie Raterman the districts director of communications told School Bus Fleet She added that the district only needed about half of Reynoldsburgs ofered pool of 20 drivers Knowing this safety net is in place has been important for our plans to return to hybrid learning after the winter break Raterman said The drivers have appreciated knowing that their jobs are secure and that they wouldnt need to double route if others were out sick or of for other reasons This allowed a sense of normalcy for our transportation team Melvin Brown superintendent of Reynoldsburg City Schools told WBNS in early January that the agreement with Hilliard began during the districts second semester The agreement was set to continue until Reynoldsburg returned to a hybrid learning plan which happened on Jan 19 Valerie Wunder the districts director of communications told SBF FEBRUARY 2021 SCHOOL BUS FLEET 2 Ohio Districts Share School Bus Drivers to Ensure Pay By Sadiah Thompson Reynoldsburg City Ohio Schools agreed to share 20 of its bus drivers with neighboring Hilliard City Schools so it could continue operations during the pandemic Photo courtesy Hilliard City Schools others for transparency accountability and real time communication we are all adapting to the new array of requirements and solutions More pressing challenges these days he noted have been those posed by the COVID 19 pandemic As transporters we pride ourselves on dealing with everything thrown at us but it goes without saying that the past year has been a real doozie he said The most important lesson he has learned over the course of his career Hood said is how to recognize and respect the talents of colleagues Whether they are subordinates superiors or other professional colleagues everyone brings strengths to ones table Hood said A good manager works to help others succeed and encourages subordinates to take his or her job As for taking the mantle from Hood after he retires on March 31 NASDPTS is currently determining his replacement