
Buses fill the Missouri Central Bus parking lot near The Grove on Monday, April 15, 2024, in St. Louis.
ST. LOUIS — Several teachers said they are shocked and offended by a request to drive school buses this fall, the latest move in an ongoing transportation crisis for St. Louis Public Schools.
The transportation survey “should have been directed exclusively to non-instructional staff,†Superintendent Keisha Scarlett said Friday.
“Due to the current shortage of bus drivers within our school district, we are seeking your support to ensure every child has access to reliable and consistent transportation for the fall,†reads the email sent Thursday to SLPS staff from Square Watson, chief operations officer.
The district is surveying staff to identify those who have commercial driver licenses and are willing to drive a bus. They are also offering free driver training to interested staff.
“That is out of line. How dare you all even go there and ask teachers if they want to drive a bus? That is ridiculous,†said Rosalind Bland, who works as an instructional aide for SLPS and has a daughter who attends Gateway STEM High School.
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“This query is simply an effort to ensure we are making the best use of our resources,†said SLPS spokesman George Sells. “There have been issues in the past with replacing drivers who call in sick. If we can develop our own pool of drivers among people who SLPS already employs, we will have another tool to make sure students arrive at school on time each day.â€
The district’s bus driver shortage left many students stranded during the school year, with an average of 20 routes canceled daily. Parents received gas cards or cash to drive their kids to the last two weeks of school. The district’s transportation vendor, Missouri Central, will terminate its contract with SLPS next month.
Asking staff to get behind the wheel is “an insane idea with already way, way overburdened teachers,†said an elementary school teacher who asked to remain anonymous.
One high school teacher said he is already worried about attendance in the fall because of ongoing bus problems. State records show more than half of SLPS students are chronically absent, defined as missing more than 10% of school.
“It’s hard to teach when only half your class is there because of transportation,†he said.
School bus drivers in Missouri must be 21 and carry a commercial driver license with an “S†endorsement that includes a written test. The drivers must pass background checks and undergo annual physicals. They receive eight hours of training each year, among other requirements.
A school bus driver shortage has been widespread in the St. Louis region for years. In 2019, teachers in the Fox School District in Jefferson County were offered an opportunity to drive buses for after-school activities, but none signed on. It is common for school districts to pull mechanics to cover bus routes.
The situation got worse during the pandemic when many older drivers quit their jobs. Several districts changed their bell schedules, rerouted buses or gave out passes for public transportation. The executive director of Lift for Life charter school in St. Louis earned his commercial driver’s license and drove a bus in 2021.

Marshall Cohen, executive director of Lift for Life Academy, fist bumps with elementary principal Thomas Devitt as he arrives at school with student Ariel McMath waiting to get off first on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. With a shortage of school bus drivers, Cohen has been driving morning and afternoon routes as other administrators are trained to drive.
Last year, more than 14,200 students rode the bus to 68 schools in SLPS. There are 609 morning routes and 610 afternoon routes covered by 228 buses or large passenger vans.
The seats were 44% full on the average trip, according to 4Mativ, a New York-based transportation consultant hired by SLPS.
To eliminate some of the routes, the company recommends changing bell times for some schools, consolidating bus stops, moving students to public transportation and paying parents to drive students if their school is more than 5 miles from home. The district could also extend the boundaries for rider eligibility from the current 1 mile from school to as far as 3.5 miles, which is the state minimum.
SLPS plans to work this fall with 19 transportation vendors, which include several day care centers and churches with shuttles.
Superintendent Keisha Scarlett said in an interview last month that the district’s transportation problem is “unacceptable†and keeps her up at night. She also acknowledged that the crisis illustrates SLPS’ biggest problem — too many schools for the number of students in the city.
“SLPS is like putting a twin sheet on a king-size bed,†she said.
St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Keisha Scarlett kicked off the district's Literacy for the Lou initiative on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Video by Blythe Bernhard of the ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ