Wanted: Part-time worker willing to undergo extensive training and background checks to work split shifts for modest pay in high-stress environment. Terrorists need not apply.
A March 16 FBI alert warns that members of foreign extremist groups are seeking school bus driving jobs, and that's a complication that service providers such as Alan Klein, of Action Transit Enterprises in Etna, don't need.
Every incident involving a school bus seems to spawn requirements that make it harder to recruit drivers from the ranks of semi-retired people who make up his main pool of potential employees, Klein said.
Potential bus drivers already face state criminal and child abuse checks. Starting April 1, they'll undergo FBI national criminal background checks.
"All this, in theory, sounds great," Klein said.
The reality, however, is that those same people can get a job in retail with less fuss and -- in the current economy -- similar pay, he said. "This is going to make a big, big problem for us."
Nationally, many school districts and third-party contractors have sruggled for years to find drivers. School Bus Fleet, an industry magazine, conducts an annual survey that shows hiring and retaining drivers ties finances as the top problem among school district transportation systems.
A 2000 survey by the magazine found that three of every four districts were short of drivers.
Ken Trump, a national school security expert, said the shortages don't change the fact that school bus systems are vulnerable to infiltration. The FBI requirement won't change that, he said.
The federal check is just a criminal records check, and terrorists rarely have criminal records. For real security, Trump said, the school district or school bus company needs to do the kind of extensive and expensive background check that includes talking to former employers and neighbors.
Schools don't have the resources do to those kinds of checks, he said.
"In short, schools and school buses fit the definition of 'soft targets,'" Trump said.
Ted Vasser, transportation director for Pittsburgh Public Schools, agreed the FBI check won't keep terrorists from getting behind the wheels of school buses.
Vasser thinks problems will arise because new employees can't drive buses until the FBI report comes back, and that could take months. Despite the inconvenience, the national criminal check will "give us a much better view of someone," he said. "That's a big step forward to help us secure competent and legal drivers."
Plum School District operates its own bus system but is considering privatizing its bus service.
Tom Zeminski, Plum's transportation supervisor, said his system can use bus aides or other employees as monitors for new drivers until FBI reports come back.
That doesn't mean the new requirement won't affect the district. The FBI check costs $40. Although contractors tend to pay the cost for their hires, the district won't -- and that could deter people from applying for a position, Zeminski said.
"School bus drivers are a shortage any year," he said. "This is definitely going to add to that fact."
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