CRANBERRY TWP — The bus driver shortage in Seneca Valley School District has prompted parents to suggest alternatives and community members to help out.

Superintendent Tracy Vitale during the district's school board meeting Monday updated both directors and the community on steps taken to counteract the shortage of bus drivers.

“We need more bus drivers,” Vitale said. “Mr. (James) Person (district transportation director) has collapsed routes. We have double routed.”

In essence, a bus driver will, at the conclusion of the school day, finish one route, return to the school to pick up more students and complete a second route to transport the same number of students with fewer drivers.

It's an inelegant solution, said Emily Droesch, a mother of an elementary school-aged child.

“This puts the kids at home about 45 minutes later than usual,” Droesch said. “Many parents have been raising their kids to shorten the day, or to make it to after-school commitments on time. Not every parent has that option available to them.”

Droesch said other parents have expressed concerns, too. Droesch said in the mornings, students may be unable to eat breakfast at school and may spend lengthy periods of time waiting for their bus to pick them up.

Rather than simply airing grievances, however, she suggested alternative solutions.

“I have seen an advertisement on the district website noting incentives for driver positions. I would request that advertisements be disseminated more widely to reach the community at large,” Droesch said. “In the interim, I wonder if it's possible to rotate which kids are kept late and hope the schools can make accommodations to allow all students access to breakfast in a safe setting.”

She also took time to acknowledge the work done by some in the community to alleviate the driver issue, such as when school board president Jim Nickel stepped up as a part-time bus driver.

Nickel obtained a commercial driver's license to drive the bus, and in addition to donating his time, he donates the wages he earns from driving the bus to the Seneca Valley Foundation, a nonprofit associated with the district and its educational mission.

“That type of commitment to the community is what we need in our board members, and I'm incredibly thankful,” Droesch said.