Durham Public Schools approves family responsibility zones as bus driver shortage continues

As the calendar turns to 2025, leaders at Durham Public Schools are hoping to get more wheels on the buses rolling around the community.

The Durham Public Schools Board Thursday night approved one of two plans to add family responsibility zones as part of their plan to bring staffing back up for bus drivers in the area.

During the meeting, school board members approved the measure in a 5-1 vote. DPS says family responsibility zones are areas within 1.5 miles of elementary schools where no bus service would run.

The district estimates about 750 students will be impacted.

Several DPS parents and employees gathered outside of Thursday's meeting before it started to voice their frustration with the bus schedules, which have been strained due to lack of drivers in the county.

"What I care about, as a parent of two DPS students & scholars, is how will they be able to get to school for the remainder of the school year and beyond?" asked Katie McDonald, a parent in the school district.

During Thursday's meeting, the board broke down the plan to ease stress on parents and drivers into phases, the first of which involved having bus driver continue operating on a rotating bus schedule, which the board implemented in early December and extended into 2025.

The school district introduced the schedule to combat the dozens of vacant bus driver positions. According to DPS Superintendent Dr. Anthony Lewis said the district is short staffed by about 100 drivers.

The district divided buses into five groups with each group having a designated day when buses wouldn't run.

• Group A: No bus service Monday.
• Group B: No bus service Tuesday
• Group C: No bus service Wednesday
• Group D: No bus service Thursday
• Group E: No bus service Friday

The second phase would have family responsibility zones and ridership updates, which they said would start in January.

According to the presentation, implementing those zones saves 20 bus routes and seven school bus runs. That amounts to 766 miles and an average of 45 minutes saved.

One board member expressed concerns with the family responsibility zones, highlighting issues with safety, and making sure there are adequate crossing guards for the students who have to walk to school.

At an early December meeting, DPS staff recommended these zones around 21 of the 32 elementary schools. At the other 11 schools, there are no safe walking conditions.

School board members say staff has double checked safe routes.

"The maps that we have seen that you guys revised from feedback, they are like a fraction of a district,” said school board member Natalie Beyer. “Typically, they are close to schools with a lot of safety considerations taken into account."

Board members failed to pass express stops for certain schools after board members were split during the vote. The measure would have created stops at strategic DPS sites rather than neighborhoods or homes.

"I want us to think about policy and guidance about who can walk themselves, what the liability is here because I know that's a concern that's come up," said Bettina Umstead with the DPS Board of Education. "I think we need to have clear guidance on what that means for school leaders when it comes to releasing students for transportation."

However, the board did vote in favor of express bus stops for students who attend Rogers-Herr Middle School, Durham School of the Arts, and the School for Creative Studies.

Mika Twietmeyer, the president of the Durham Association of Educators, called the fix a "band-aid solution," adding the rotation service is not benefiting students in the district.

Parents for months have complained for months of students waiting long periods for school buses and late notices of buses not running, leaving parents to pick up their children.

Even a Durham County commissioner obtained his CDL to help bus children to school.

Mathew Palmer, senior director of school planning and operational services with the district, said the solutions will only be in place until staff is back to 100%.

"We are traying to get to that place where we can carry routes five days a week, and those routes are stable for drivers," he said.

As part of Thursday night's presentation to the DPS Board, staff discussed the five stages to become a bus driver, giving a window into why it can take weeks to get an applicant on the road.

• Stage 1: Application.
• Stage 2: The district checks eligibility and performs background checks on driving records and criminal history.
• Stage 3: The candidate takes four days of classes, and they must pass a test, a drug screening and an NCDOT physical.
• Stage 4: Candidates have to hold a CDL permit for 14 days before Behind the Wheel Training and a road test. This is considered the most time-consuming step.
• Stage 5: Onboarding by DPS.

In total, 214 people are somewhere in the five stage process as of Dec. 16.

Between September and November of this year, 12 people graduated, ready to drive for DPS.

DPS staff said more DMV testers would accelerate the process.

Matthew Palmer, the DPS executive director of school planning, shared his thoughts on getting more DMV testers.

"What we are going to need to do that is to truly call in all of the favors from [the] DMV to have our DMV tester get additional support from Raleigh,” Palmer said. “[That could be] pulling a tester from another county that has [its] own challenges."

Bus drivers told WRAL News they hope to be part of the decision making in the changes going forward.

"We all know there's a hierarchy between leadership and staff, and we respect that, but we have to be accountable and included in the decision making," said Nisha Watson, a school bus driver and DPS teacher.