COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — During and soon after the pandemic, there was a dire need for bus drivers in the Colorado Springs area. While the need isn't as great, D-20 is still hoping to hire more than half a dozen drivers ahead of the upcoming school year.
A job fair is scheduled for Wednesday at Liberty High School from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., featuring more than 150 open positions. Click here for more on the event.
The Director of Transportation for D-20, Joey Eisenhut, explained they are at about an 8 percent defieciency rate for the positions of bus driver and bus paraprofessionals. As of Tuesday, they were looking to hire eight bus drivers and five paraprofessionals.
"We want somebody who enjoys being around children," Eisenhut stated. "Driving a bus is just not getting a big yellow vehicle from point A to point B. It's also taking care of the students, making sure the students are prepared for school. A bus driver, if you think about it, is the first contact a student has with a District 20 staff member every day, and the last contact they have with the District 20 staff member at the end of the day. And it's wonderful if at the end of that bus ride, the student is happy, safe and prepared to start the day, even if they had a bad morning."
Eisenhut oversees about 200 employees who are responsible for transporting about 5,000 students each school day.
"We are a team," Eisenhut said of his staff. "We have team building most every week... We just had an $8 million renovation for our facility. Our break room used to look like a cafeteria. Now it actually looks like a break room. We have sitting areas, we have comfortable chairs. We do have tables if somebody wants to eat their lunch, but it's a place where people can now relax. Sit in a group, eat their popcorn, talk about their morning,"
WHAT COMES WITH BEING A BUS DRIVER AT D-20:
Eisenhut says they have about 30 staff members who are full-time, which includes dispatchers, routers, mechanics, supervisors, paraprofessionals and bus drivers. They are also seeking drivers who can work 20 to 40 hours a week as a part-time job. A couple of hours in the morning, along with a couple of hours in the afternoon. Eisenhut added that they have a couple of shorter routes, but they also have some bus drivers who are clocking seven hours a day.
A bus driver will need a Commercial Driver's License (CDL), but D-20 also assists new hires with that. For more information on what you need to obtain a CDL, click here.
According to the D-20 salary schedule, the following positions have a minimum pay of:
Bus Driver: $22.25
Bus Paraprofessional: $19.16
Bus Trainee: $21.63 (Based on job posting)
Eisenhut himself still gets behind the wheel of a bus every now and then to execute a route.
"I was assigned a route, and this is about three years ago, so I was driving every day, morning and afternoon," Eisenhut said of his times during the pandemic when he still worked as the director of transportation. "It makes it tough to do the primary job of strategically looking and advancing the Transportation Department in Academy District 20.... Sometimes we get a little short where I have to go out and drive. But occasionally, if we're doing well, and it's been a while since I've gone out and drive, I'll just volunteer and go drive a route in the afternoon, because I like driving a bus. I like interacting with the students, and I like just kind of seeing what it's like at the schools and what my drivers and paraprofessionals have to deal with when they go to the schools."
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