School is out for the summer, but school districts and bus companies are hard at work recruiting drivers amid a nationwide shortage for the position.
As you may have already seen, Kansas City companies like First Student are using their own buses as billboards. Others are using online sites, even resorting to Craigslist to get the word out about open jobs.
Some parents are hesitant about the recruiting tactic.
"I don't think it's a good idea. I think it would be better if they put it on TV or in commercial," said Katja Collens, a mother of a middle school student.
We found a job posting online for DS Bus Line, a company that works with the Shawnee Mission School District.
DS Bus Line and other companies we spoke with say all drivers go through background checks that include checking drivers criminal records. But Collens doesn't think the vetting process is good enough.
"I work early, and if I didn't, she wouldn't be ridding the bus," Collens told 41 Action News.
On one job site, we found more than a dozen open driver positions in the KC metro area.
"They need to hire more, and I understand there is a shortage.," said Collens. "Maybe they need to give more hours or a pay raise."
The Durham Bus Service told 41 Action News that despite there being no state or federal law broadly barring people with criminal history, the company does not hire applicants who have been convicted of a felony.
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