Cloquet School Board wants meeting on busing issues

A continuing shortage of bus drivers for routes in the Cloquet school district has provoked school board members to meet with its transportation company to find ways to ease the crunch.

The issue came up in the work session before the board's organizational meeting on Monday.

"Something's got to change," said member Ken Scarbrough.

Melissa Juntunen said there have been far too many instances of parents finding out that a route can't be filled, leaving them to their own devices in getting kids to school.

And the loss of a route through consolidation of bus routes has led to students not getting to school in time for breakfast, Sarah Buhs said.

Superintendent Michael Cary encouraged members to set up a meeting with Cloquet Transit to discuss "collaborative opportunities to address the driver shortage."

Board members kicked around the idea of maintenance staff and even teaching staff stepping up to better fill the pool of available drivers.

Cloquet Transit isn't alone in the shortage, Cary said. "It's happening across the region."

Routes in Duluth have been consolidated as well as its district deals with driver shortages.

The loss of Route 12 in Cloquet was a consolidation effort as well, Cary said.

"It was explained to me that the cancellation of Route 12 is because the route is the closest to our buildings and many of the students on the route are within a reasonable walking distance," he said. "Transit also noted that they work to make accommodations for certain groups of students on the route who are farther from their school buildings when the route is canceled."

Cary said he has reached out in the past, asking Cloquet Transit how the district might help in creating a more robust stable of drivers.

"They haven't taken me up on the offer," he said.

Jeff Lane, president of Cloquet Transit, and his brother, vice president Jack Lane, drive routes in the district. They did not return a call from the Pine Knot seeking their perspectives.

The Cloquet Transit contract calls for 15 routes a day for 10 months of the year, said district business manager Candace Nelis. She said it's unclear what the district could claw back from the company when daily buses get canceled.

There are other concerns as well, such as buses for athletic events and even field trips. If drivers can't be found in those instances, Nelis said, the contract allows the district to seek alternatives with other bus companies.

The school board didn't set a date for a meeting with Cloquet Transit.

"We know worker shortages have impacted many sectors over recent years," Cary said. "But (we) don't want a continuing situation that may negatively impact the education of our students."

"We need to seek a solution," Scarbrough said, advocating for a transit meeting. "We need to bring Cloquet Transit in."

Organizing

The board voted to keep its officers in place for the year, with Nate Sandman continuing as the board chairman, Juntunen as clerk and Dave Battaglia as treasurer.

Sandman, Juntunen and Scarbrough are in the last year of their current terms.

There was a long discussion about school board member pay. The board voted 4-2 to keep the monthly stipend of $300 in place while increasing the pay for each meeting by $10 to $85. The mileage rate will remain pegged to the federal rate.

Scarbrough and Buhs advocated paying officers more per year because of the extra work they take on. Both voted "no" on the salaries vote.