The national shortage of bus drivers has hit home for families at Nederland Schools. Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) has had to make the very painful decision to indefinitely suspend bus Route 704. This route covers the Coal Creek and Wondervu areas and brings students to Nederland Elementary and Nederland Middle-Senior High School.

It is easy to point the finger and blame the school district solely for this situation. The fact is many school districts in the state and in the country are facing similar situations. There are school districts where the superintendents are having to cover bus routes. It is not uncommon for routes to be consolidated or suspended. Many bus drivers have retired. Not nearly as many people hold the required CDL license anymore as once did. School districts are competing with businesses and counties and states for drivers. Simply put there are not enough people out there willing to be drivers for the demand that there is for drivers.

Considering that Nederland school buses cover a very large amount of territory on their routes the people at the Nederland bus terminal have done a phenomenal job maintaining the routes. They have been stretched thin, like the district, for a while now.

Nederland bus drivers have a different situation than other parts of BVSD. Mountain bus drivers have extra hours of training because of geography and weather and road conditions. Anyone who lives up here for any extended period of time knows these drivers have to be prepared for driving on snow, slush, ice and everything in between.

Because Nederland schools are a pre-K through 12th grade system, drivers can have some really young kids on the bus and some high school students as well. Driving a very large vehicle with a bunch of young people can be challenging.

Now think about the amazing kids the drivers get to see grow up through the years. From barely being able to step up those giant steps to seeing them carrying their band instrument to middle school to wearing their letter jacket. One meets parents through the years and a sense of community is created. Bus drivers in Nederland are an integral part of that community.

I attended a K-12 school in rural South Dakota and I can still name all five bus drivers and see the order they lined up in. I did not even ride the bus. I was a town kid (there was no service for the town kids), not a country kid. Not riding the bus and still knowing their names shows how close-knit our community was, and how important the bus drivers were to our school.

Maybe there needs to be a deeper sense of gratitude in our society for drivers and all the people who occupy jobs that are often seen as less than. Maybe as a community we can create some positive change to help solve this problem for local families and the schools.

Suspending bus Route 704 is not anything BVSD wanted to do. BVSD wants kids on the buses and in Nederland schools. They know how much this burdens families. A local parent who is impacted by the route suspension believes there are approximately 20 families affected by the decision. That is too many.

This is not the time to say that you do not have kids in school, it is not your problem or to start pointing fingers. The greater community should embrace this issue and come to the assistance of the families who are impacted. What could be more inspiring to our children than to put our heads together and work together for them?

BVSD has been recruiting for more bus drivers, using many different avenues to advertise, for a couple years now and using incentives such as signing bonuses. With all their efforts they know more retirements are coming at the end of the year and more changes could be coming to the routes.

If you or if you know someone who is interested in applying to be a BVSD bus driver you can apply at https://jobs.bvsd.org/.