Launch the media gallery 1 playerNow Hiring: Bus Drivers (URGENT)
2024-2025 School Year
January 14, 2025
West Central Families and Community Members,
I am writing to express an urgent need for bus drivers in our district. Over the last year, we have worked hard to adjust our bus routes with the current bus drivers that we have and learned that we need a minimum of 10 licensed bus drivers to transport our students to and from school each day. We also need one bus driver to transport special education students and three additional drivers who are licensed to transport students in smaller vehicles for students who attend programs outside of our district. It is vital that we have 10 drivers for our in-district bus routes that transport our students to and from our school buildings. Without 10 drivers we are forced to run double routes, meaning a route (or multiple routes) will be picked up and/or dropped off at home after the driver's initial route is finished, resulting in bus times running 30-60+ minutes later than normal.
Our bus drivers work hard to be at school each and every day to transport our students, but we all know that things happen and there are days when a driver is unable to work, for a variety of reasons. Our concern is what happens when we do not have 10 drivers for an extended period of time, how do we transport students to and from school, without impacting their learning time any more than necessary? Our fear is that there could come a time, when we would have to excuse an entire route of students from school for a day (or multiple days), due to not having a driver to transport them to school. Or, even worse, we would need to consider canceling school for the day and making it up later in the school year.
How can we avoid that possibility? We need more school bus drivers! While we know that driving a school bus is not for everyone, we also know that we have a skilled community, who undoubtedly has members who are able to drive a bus, once they complete certification. Please take some time to think about if you (or someone you know) would be willing and able to step-up and help us, by earning your school bus driver license. How do you earn a bus license? Here are a few things to know, but to get all of the details, please contact the District and ask to speak with Brian Kreps, West Central Transportation Director (or you can email him at kreps-brian@wc235.k12.il.us) for all of the details!
- Must be 21+ years of age
- Must have a valid Illinois drivers license
- Take an 8 hour initial bus driver course (paid for by the District)
- Pass a drug/alcohol screening and physical (paid for by the District)
- Complete ELDT Training and Behind-the-Wheel practice hours (with one of our licensed drivers)
- Pass the Illinois Behind the Wheel Drivers Test
What do you get out of being a bus driver?
- Daily Route pay of $92.25/day (on average about $30/hour)
- Trip pay of $18.00/hour (athletic events, field trips, etc)
- Summers Off!
- No Holidays!
- Short hours - on average our drivers work about 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, allowing you to have the middle of your days free
- Additional driving opportunities available on the weekends, breaks, etc (athletic events, trips, etc)
- Free Athletic Event Admission
- IMRF (Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund) credible work
We can be flexible with you as well. If you only want to work in the morning, only in the afternoon, only drive for athletic events (or even just certain athletic events!), we can work with you and figure out a plan!
The best part of being a bus driver? The smiles you get from our students when you are the first person they see each morning and the last person they see at the end of their school day. Being a bus driver is not easy and it is a huge responsibility, but our kids LOVE our drivers. One of the highlights I get to see is watching our students get excited and almost burst with that excitement when they see their driver in the building and get to say hello! I encourage you to talk to any of our bus drivers about their experience and what they like (and even what they don’t like) about the job!
If you are interested or have additional questions, please reach out to the District and we will connect you with Brian Kreps, our Transportation Director to answer all of your questions. I hope you consider becoming a bus driver. Please let us know if you have any questions or would like more information! We hope you will pass along this information and suggest being a bus driver to someone you know that may be interested.
Sincerely,
Stacey Day Brian Kreps
Superintendent Transportation Director
