South Brunswick School District Is Facing Staff Shortages

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — The South Brunswick School District is facing a staff shortage. This is part of a nationwide problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Superintendent Scott Feder recently wrote to the community informing them of staffing shortage in the transportation and other departments and asked eligible community members to apply.

“The area that hit the industry a few years back and that has seen an increase in the shortage is transportation. You may have seen that there are even districts that have had to make significant alterations to schedules to accommodate this shortage,” Feder said.

“...We are short by usually double-digit drivers on a daily basis, with no sign that this is temporary. We are working on potential solutions so that we avoid the need for significant changes to our operations.”

Several New Jersey schools has to made changes to schedule due to disruption in transportation services. The Glassboro Public School District is altering its dismissal times at two schools by 45 minutes while Toms River Public School District announced it would have to change start times for five of its schools due to the shortage. Edison Township Public Schools was forced them to cancel around 31 bus routes.

Related Coverage:

Driver Shortage Forces Edison Schools To Cut Back On Bus Routes

NJ District Alters School Schedule Over Bus Driver Shortage

Bus Driver Shortage Forces New Start Times For Toms River Schools

Despite the shortage, Feder told Patch district officials were doing everything they could to provide transportation to students

"We have awesome drivers and others with CDL licenses that are making it all work, but it is a struggle. Our Director of Transportation, Jill Ottignon, and her team are masterful each day,” Feder said.

Nationwide, there are school districts wrestling with the problem of staffing school bus routes. An EdWeek report said districts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Missouri, to name a few, were reducing the number of bus routes, changing school start times and that there still were students without transportation.

The issue in many places is a combination of low wages and health concerns as a result of the pandemic, the EdWeek report said.

The New Jersey School Bus Contractors Association told 6 ABC that about 20 percent of bus drivers didn't return after layoffs associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

School districts have been competing with trucking companies and mass transit agencies over drivers who have commercial licenses, nj.com reported.

South Brunswick is also facing a shortage in other staffing positions. The school district is looking for substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, secretaries, custodial and maintenance workers. According to NBC News, the demand for teachers exceeded supply for grades K-12 across the country's public schools by more than 100,000 in 2019 for the first time ever.

“Again, while this is a universal problem in education right now, we hope for South Brunswick to have viable solutions that never involve disrupting the learning for our students,” Feder said in his letter.

Those interested in applying for any of mentioned positions can click here.

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