The National Guard has been mobilized in Massachusetts to ferry kids to and from school amid a nationwide shortage of bus drivers exacerbated by COVID.
Up to 250 members of the Guard will be activated to address the shortage, following a direct order from Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to deploy the servicemen, as school and state officials across the country have been forced to deal with the dearth of drivers.
'There are a bunch of communities that have expressed interest in this and we're glad to be able to help because it's important,' Baker told the public of his decision.
Baker added in a tweet, 'The safe and reliable transportation to school each day is critical to our children's safety and education.'
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker decided to deploy the Massachusetts National Guard to deal with the state's unprecedented bus-driver shortage
The Boston school bus drivers' union calls the shortage 'the worst fiasco we've witnessed in our careers'
Ninety Massachusetts guardsmen are set to begin training on Tuesday, a statement from the state's Office of Public Safety and Security announced
Ninety Massachusetts guardsmen are set to begin training on Tuesday, to help with transportation in the Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell, and Lynn school systems, a statement from the state's Office of Public Safety and Security announced.
Officials added that the deployment of the Guard to drive the buses will not interfere with the militia force's ability to deal with whatever other emergencies may occur throughout the state.
Baker said the federal government - not the state - would pick up the tab, but could not provide an estimate as to how much the assistance would cost.
School districts in Massachusetts have had a particularly tough start to the year in regards to drivers, the Boston Herald reported, due chiefly to the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant and mask requirements.
The Boston school bus drivers' union even went as far as to campaign to postpone the start of school the year, calling the situation 'the worst fiasco we've witnessed in our careers.'
The union also revealed that the district gave them more than 100 additional routes than they've had in prior years at the last minute.
During the first day of school last week in Boston, public school officials said that only 57 percent of the school's bus fleet completed on-time drop-offs - with some kids not even making it to school, according to district officials.
The Guard will be deployed in the Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell, and Lynn school systems, since they were among the most affected by the driver shortage
The litany of issues across the state's capital comes despite promises from Acting Mayor Kim Janey that student transportation would be unaffected by countermeasures to the pandemic.
There has been a growing shortage of school bus drivers for years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, not only in Massachusetts but nationally - and the emergence of the virus has only exacerbated the already present issue to paramount proportions.
Bus operators often tend to be advanced in age, and at times even retired, so when the virus struck early last year, many left their jobs over concerns of getting sick.
What's more, after getting a commercial license, some drivers are lured to delivery services and trucking companies, in lieu of the split shifts and unruly children that often come with operating a school bus.
In New York, many districts have 15 to 20 percent fewer drivers than they need.
A school district in New Jersey was forced to cut its days short amid the lack of drivers, dismissing students nearly an hour earlier than normal.
The situation is so dire, one school in Delaware is even paying parents to drive their children to school.
Similarly, a Montana school district is offering $4,000 bonuses to lure in drivers.
In Chicago, at the start of the school year, 70 bus drivers - 10 percent of the city's overall pool - abruptly quit over the district's new COVID-19 vaccine mandate, WBEZ reported.
The move left some 2,100 students without a way to get to school.
Pittsburgh public schools notified families that they are short almost 650 bus seats for the first day of school on Friday, and one district even delayed the start of classes - saying hundreds more children would have to walk to school.
Schools across the U.S. are offering hiring bonuses, providing the training needed to get a commercial driver's license and increasing hourly pay to attract more drivers.
But the issue is still pressing - and the school year has just begun.
According to the National School Transportation Association, the nationwide need for drivers is expected to remain at 'critical levels' during the coming months, with impacts that will stretch well into the school year.
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