By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The St. Joseph School District is working to make transportation for students to and from school safe
One primary issue the district has heard from parents is behavior from students on the bus rides.
Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations Robert Sigirst says the job of a bus driver is complex
"Because the safety of those students is paramount for them," Sigrist tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. "So, driving and focus on what's in front of them is obviously their most important thing, but there's a lot going on behind them, some routes we have monitors on if it's a more full route, things like that to assist with that."
Sigrist says anyone who thinks a bus drivers' job is easy, he would challenge them to ride an elementary bus route to see the challenges they deal with.
Director of Non-Academic Services Shannon Nolte says a big focus in the district is on building relationships and says the district's behavior specialists talked to several bus drivers for the district.
"Talked about those relationships, how you build those, and really its just no different, bus drivers build good relationships usually those busses run well and there's fewer behavior issues, there's always going to be a few, but I think that's the biggest key is building those relationships with those kids," Nolte explains.
Nolte says the district received good feedback from drivers within the district about the talks on learning how to build those relationships with students.
A new contract with First Student has also helped the St. Joseph School District in keeping its busses filled with drivers to transport students to and from school.
Robert Sigirst says the district is currently in a much better spot than they were just four years ago.
Sigrist says back then, there were days where the district didn't know who would be going out to pick up students on the buses.
"Because we just were that short on drivers and they were pulling drivers from the Kansas City area to fill our routes," Sigrist says. "So, where we're at today as we sit here in December 2024, from where we were say in January of 2021, much improved, much improved."
Sigrist says First Student has helped train drivers and has given incentives that help recruit and retain drivers to ensure the district knows who will be out driving on any given day.