News Photo by Steve Schulwitz A row of Alpena Public Schools buses sit outside the bus garage on Tuesday. The buses will be put into action when school begins on Monday. The school district is looking to hire more drivers to help round out its staff.

ALPENA — Alpena Public Schools administrators say they have enough bus drivers to kick off the school year on Monday, but its roster of drivers is so thin that if there is a string of illnesses, parents may have to find a way to get their children to school.

Last year, there were about 178 times when individual bus routes were left without drivers, which left families scrambling to provide transportation to get their kids to class or pick them up from school.

Lee Fitzpatrick, APS director of communications, said the school system has amassed enough bus drivers to shuttle kids to and from school, but it is still seeking to hire more.

The school district has 23 school bus routes that cover about 640 square miles in Alpena County and a sliver of Presque Isle County.

Currency, Fitzpatrick said, the school system has 23 everyday bus drivers and only one reserve driver, which means the district needs to add staffing to help prevent bussing cancellations. The school system also has five bus attendants who help monitor and help the students while they are on the bus.

He said inevitably, there will be times when drivers call in sick or have an unexpected emergency, and when that happens, the school district has to scramble to notify parents or try to find a replacement driver. He said even though there is only one reserve driver, there are members of staff who can step up and drive a bus when there is an emergency, but that isn’t ideal.

“We do have bus mechanics, dispatchers, and directors who can drive in emergency situations, but we would rather have more drivers available,” Fitzpatrick said. ‘”If we have to take someone out of the garage or office, then they aren’t there doing the job they are supposed to be doing.”

Fitzpatrick said they don’t want bus drivers to work behind the wheel while they are ill for safety reasons. They also don’t want a sickness that is potentially contagious to spread to the students.

“If a different member of staff calls in, people may not know, but they do when a bus driver does,” he said. “Our bus drivers are vital to our process, but we also don’t want them driving if they aren’t feeling well, as we should.”

When there is a route or several routes canceled, the school district gives students who may struggle to get to school that day some slack.

“We go to great lengths to work with the families and we realize it isn’t their fault,” Fitzpatrick said. “We don’t punish those students who are late or miss school altogether because of busing.”

When the school district is forced to cancel a route, parents and students are notified as soon as possible via the school system’s messenger system, a text, or a phone call. Fitzpatrick said the information will also be shared on the school’s social media accounts and on the school district’s website.

Fitzpatrick said people can learn more about becoming a bus driver on the school district’s website or by calling the school’s main office. He said APS will pay a person while they are being trained to become a licensed bus driver, which he said is a touch more difficult than just getting licensed to drive a car.

“If you have a good driving record and work well with kids, we’ll pay while you are training,” he said.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.