With a high turnover rate of 31 percent, the Transportation Services Department must train 61 new drivers each school year. Driver training is now the part-time responsibility of the operations foreman. The operations foreman's primary responsibilities are safety and field supervision of drivers. However, since the operations foreman drives a school bus route each day and also trains new driver candidates, he does not have time to focus on safety issues. Recruit and hire a training specialist for Transportation Services.
Safety is the most important aspect of student transportation.
The position of training foreman should be reclassified as the training specialist, responsible for new driver training and retraining for current employees. The operations foreman currently is serving part-time as the trainer. He also is responsible for supervising drivers and field observations. Until the operations foreman can delegate training to a new training specialist, he does not have time to focus on safety issues in the department. For example, during community meetings held by TSPR for this review, several participants commented on observations of school bus drivers who drive too fast and do not observe traffic signals.