Nederland schools need the community’s help to fill positions in transportation, food service and custodial services. We tend to think of operations staff as behind the scenes. There is nothing behind the scenes about a mechanic, a custodian, bus drivers, someone who prepares and feeds people, especially kids.

Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) is looking, and has been looking for some time, to hire more bus drivers, more help in the kitchen at Nederland Middle Senior High School (NMSHS) and another custodian at Nederland Elementary.

When asked why Nederland schools are struggling to fill these positions BVSD’s Assistant Superintendent of Operational Services Rob Price said that there are a number of reasons that are affecting the entire district. “We are competing with companies like Amazon for drivers.” To drive a school bus one needs a CDL license. That is not needed with a delivery job like Amazon. There are also other requirements, remember bus drivers are driving very precious people.

Price also mentioned the cost of living is a factor in the area as a reason for not having applicants for positions in the operations departments. This is something other districts in Colorado are facing as well.

Tony Skala is BVSD’s Head of Transportation. He talked about how spectacular the transportation team is in Nederland. They work so hard to get kids to school as more routes are consolidated. Skala and Price know how difficult this is on families and on the drivers.

Carolyn Villa is BVSD’s Food Services Manager. She says, “We need people from the community to help out.” She specifically means the kitchen assistant position that is open at NMSHS needs to be filled by someone in the Nederland/Gilpin community. The position is a couple hours a day so no one from Boulder will take the job. It needs to be filled locally.

Villa added that the food services staff is stretched so thin and they need more people to come through the door (or go to their computers) and fill out applications.

Price said, “The operations team is so valuable in Nederland.” Hiring locally is the best solution for Nederland schools. Substitutes are also needed in areas in the operations department.

People are needed to feed our kids, bring them to school, keep the schools clean, and to help the team who are already working so hard to do those things. To change the proverb slightly…It takes a community to raise our children.

To apply for a job in BVSD go to https://jobs.bvsd.org/.