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Some parents brace for chaotic first day as school bus driver shortage leaves 2,100 CPS students without rides

Chicago Public Schools parent Eric DeChant said he and others in his Northwest Side community were scrambling for car pools and other ways of getting their children to school for the first day of class Monday after a mass resignation of school bus drivers led to the cancellation of bus service for more than 2,000 students.

The driver shortage affecting CPS and suburban districts is part of a larger national trend expected to affect school districts across the country as summer break ends.

CPS officials said the district had created a plan to pick up students 15 to 30 minutes earlier than usual, with stipends for students who couldn’t meet the new pickup time. But last week, about 90 drivers resigned — including 73 who resigned on Friday alone — leaving the district short about 500 drivers.

Locally, the shortage means that about 2,100 CPS students, mostly selective enrollment or magnet school students like DeChant’s daughter, won’t have bus transportation on Monday, but the district has offered affected students a $1,000 stipend for the first two weeks, with $500 per month after that. About 990 special education students will also be without a ride for the first day, officials said.

The Chicago Transit Authority said it will offer free rides Monday to all CPS students from kindergarten to 12th grade.

“We are saddened and extremely frustrated by this situation, and we express our sincerest apologies to the impacted families for the inconvenience this has caused — especially with such short notice,” CPS said in a statement.

DeChant, a legal engineer for a software firm, said he’s fortunate enough to work remotely from home and has the time to share carpooling duties. “The plan is to share the burden with other parents,” DeChant said Sunday. “We’ve got cars and I’ve got time and so I feel pretty lucky. My first priority was basically to get the kids on our bus stop, making sure those parents aren’t panicking because they have a job to show up to at a certain time.”

Numerous industries, including food service and construction, have experienced a shortage in workers during the pandemic. The private school bus industry has faced shortages for years, but the pandemic led many drivers to quit or retire, The New York Times reported recently.

“According to the bus companies, the rush of resignations was likely driven by the vaccination requirements. As a result, the district went from being able to provide all eligible students a bus route, to being unable to accommodate transportation for approximately 2,100 students within a matter of days,” CPS said in the statement.

DeChant said he’s sympathetic to the district’s situation, but hoped for a more substantial solution than stipends.

“I’m wondering: What’s Plan B? There must be options out there somewhere besides just saying, ‘You’re on your own, here’s some money,'” said DeChant, of the city’s Oriole Park neighborhood.

CPS officials said they would work through the weekend to find solutions and were informing principals about the stipend process and the timeline for families to receive reimbursement.

Despite the inconvenience, DeChant said the bus driver shortage is a sign of the times during the pandemic. “I’m disappointed. I can’t allow myself to get angry,” he said. “The quote I saw a while ago, and I think it was in a restaurant, was: ‘The world is understaffed.'”

wlee@chicagotribune.com