Lake County Gazette

The Big Hollow School District 38 Board of Education recently reviewed the capability of its transportation department.

During a Jan. 9 board meeting, Transportation Department representative Jackie Laskie presented data on the department. This year the district hired a total of six new drivers to help them run all their routes, a significant upgrade from the driver shortage during the previous year. The district would prefer to hire a few more drivers because all of the new drivers are on the job every single day, so there is regularly a lack of substitution drivers available.

"Comparison from last year to this year, we had 27 transportation employees, we now have 33," Laskie said in the meeting. "We had to eliminate Route 13 last year due to the shortage and kind of combine routes. Thankfully, since we are in better shape, we were able to bring that back and lower the capacity on our busses that we have going. So it's definitely an improvement from last year."

The district has 19 large-capacity buses, which hold 71 students each. Of those buses, 16 are used for regular in-district routes; and three are backups for field trips, charter trips or for when other buses break down. The district also has small buses available for Pre-K students on a daily basis and their out-of-school program that shuttles some students from Big Hollow to other schools halfway through the day. Additionally, the district has three large vans used for these purposes, making a total of 28 vehicles.

The district still gets help from other districts and their transportation departments. Twenty-three district students receive transportation from sources outside the district, some because of a lack of a second wheelchair-accessible bus. Big Hollow also helps a few students from out of the district as well. The majority of students who ride the buses are middle schoolers.

If the district is able to hire a few more drivers, then the costs might decrease because the district would be self-sufficient for all its students. The board discussed and agreed to keep an eye on how many student riders they have and whether the numbers decrease at all. If the numbers do not go down, the board said they will consider buying more vehicles and hiring drivers.