Both the principal and athletic director at Pewaukee High School are studying to get their CDL to drive a school bus when needed. | Elijah Ekdahl/Unsplash
Both the principal and athletic director at Pewaukee High School are studying to get their CDL to drive a school bus when needed. | Elijah Ekdahl/Unsplash
Teachers have always had overlooked secondary tasks to perform, but at one school district the latest list of extracurricular duties for staff includes driving buses.
Jeff Behrens, athletic director of Pewaukee High School, is one of several working on his commercial driver’s license (CDL) to help making shuttling their 650 student-athletes easier.
“It’s another hat, but we are willing to do whatever we need to do to serve our kids,” Behrens said, according to WEAU 13 News.
As it is, the school bus driver shortage has been impacting the Eau Claire school district more than ever. Pewaukee High School has had a hard time getting its students where they needed to be. The school had started dismissing athletes even earlier from classes so that they could be bused to another school, which could bus them to where they needed to go.
Behrens and Pewaukee High School Principal Brian Sniff are two educators who have have taken matters into their own hands. They have both been taking classes to get their CDLs so that they can step in and drive a school bus when it's needed. The two administrators will take their official exam on Friday.
The Pewaukee school district currently partners with the GO Riteway Transportation Group to help transport students. Their current numbers show 21 bus drivers for the 2022-23 school year, which should be just enough to get by, though that doesn’t account for any trips outside of the normal daily routine.
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