SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — Multiple school districts in Spokane are experiencing a bus driver shortage, forcing many kids to walk long distances to school.
Families in the Central Valley School District (CVSD) are feeling the impact as their kids no longer have bus service. Four days before school started, the Central Valley School District informed a group of parents that their kids' bus route was canceled.
One of the affected parents shared with KREM 2 the impacts the shortage is causing to her kids, and the solution they had to scramble together just days before the start of class.
Brandy Bremmer, one of the parents affected by the bus driver shortage, said her family's morning routines are usually a bit hectic. However, the bus driver shortage has made it even more so.
"We get her we get up seven o'clock I get them fed, send him upstairs around 8:30," Bremmer said.
Parents in the apartment complex Bremmer lives in have been scrambling to find their kids rides to school after CVSD canceled their bus route.
"Some of us were notified Sept. 4 via email, some parents were not and school started Sept. 8," Bremmer said.
CVSD said Bremmer's children live within the one-mile, straight-line walking radius of Greenacres Elementary. However, the family is actually located 1.3 miles from the school.
"They're six and there's no way. I don't even let them outside in our grass area to play by themselves, let alone walk to school by themselves," Bremmer said.
The walk is also dangerous, according to Bremmer, as they live right off Sprague Avenue, where the sidewalks are tiny. The alternative for them is walking the Centennial Trail.
"I've walked it a few times with them and there's been, you know, drug paraphernalia, pipes, needles," Bremmer said.
CVSD said they are aware of the situation and are looking into solutions. They are hiring a crossing guard to be stationed at Sprague Avenue and Long Street, and have asked the city of Spokane Valley to add a crosswalk there.
They are also considering having a staff member lead a walking bus to get the students to and from school. CVSD said they are working to add a bus route to and from the complex after other elementary routes are finished.
For now, Bremmer has a neighbor who gives ride to school, but when that falls through, it just adds to the chaos.
"So I had to, you know, hurry and find within an hour find another ride for him. and it's just yeah, it's been a nightmare," Bremmer said.
CVSD is working to have one of their solutions up and running by this fall.
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