By Chris Post / Editor-In-Chief

Marshall Public Schools is trying to put a rough start to the school year in the rearview mirror after transportation problems left some students on the wrong buses, routes without drivers and families wondering whether their children would get home on time.

Superintendent Caleb Pettit addressed the problems during the Marshall Board of Education’s Sept. 8 meeting, accepting responsibility for a system he said has struggled repeatedly at the beginning of school years.

“We have to do better,” Pettit said.

Pettit said problems have included incorrect bus passes, students boarding the wrong buses and periods when school officials were uncertain where some children were. The district had also placed high school and elementary students on the same buses before eventually separating those routes.

Pettit said he did not consider those problems acceptable, particularly when they leave parents unsure about where their children are.

“Students have got to get home safely on the first day of school,” Pettit said. “I just can’t in good conscience look parents in the eyes and say what we’ve done is okay.”

He said the district has been working to rebuild its transportation operation, but a shortage of qualified drivers has complicated that effort.

At the time of the meeting, Marshall Public Schools was four drivers short of what Pettit considered full staffing under its newly configured routes. Filling those positions would eliminate the need for drivers to double back and cover multiple routes and would help buses remain on schedule.

Pettit said five drivers had already been hired and a sixth was expected to join them, but school bus drivers must complete testing and other requirements before they can begin transporting students.

Training those drivers created another problem.

The district previously relied on a single driver trainer, who Pettit said quit about 10 days before the beginning of school. Without a trainer, the district had newly hired drivers it could not immediately prepare for service.

Marshall is now working to train two driver trainers and had brought in trainers from outside the district to help get new drivers qualified.

The board also addressed leadership in the department. Following closed session, the district announced the hiring of John McEachern as transportation director for the 2026-27 school year. The district also hired Mark McFarland, David Slusher and Michael Basnight as bus drivers. Randy Hines resigned as a district bus driver effective Sept. 4.

Pettit said having more depth in the department is important because transportation cannot rely on a single person to fill critical roles.

“We need leadership to be two or three deep,” he said.

The shortage has also led to temporary “blackouts,” when individual bus routes cannot operate because there are not enough available drivers.

Pettit used Route 15 as an example, saying routes may be canceled when too many existing drivers are already covering other routes, vacations or sick leave.

He said he expected the situation to improve quickly as drivers complete training.

“If we can get one to two drivers through that training in the next two weeks … then I think the blackout should stop,” Pettit said. He said adding three more drivers should allow transportation operations to return to normal and could eventually give the district enough staff to maintain full-time substitutes.

The district is also examining how driver leave is handled. Pettit said proposed policy changes could provide incentives for drivers not to use paid time off during periods when the department is already short staffed, while still recognizing employees’ right to take earned leave.

The goal, he said, is to prevent multiple absences from leaving the district without enough drivers to cover routes.

The board approved changes to transportation pay that include compensation for drivers covering double routes, as well as adjustments for activity trips, shop work and bus monitors. District officials said the changes are intended in part to make transportation jobs more competitive and help retain drivers after they are hired.

Pettit said the district may ultimately need to revisit pay again.

“We don’t just need to get them, but we need to keep them,” he said.

Transportation concerns were not limited to staffing.

The district’s special education bus fleet has also presented safety concerns. Pettit said one bus has a ramp that frequently sticks while another has seats that slide.

During the meeting, the board approved purchasing another accessible bus at approximately half the cost of a new vehicle. The bus is expected to receive several upgrades before being delivered to the district.

The need became more urgent after officials discovered problems with the district’s existing reserve accessible bus.

Pettit said the district currently has three such buses, but the reserve vehicle has a damaged engine and did not have enough passenger restraints. Another bus currently assigned to a route has a ramp that often malfunctions.

Pettit also said he would like families of students who use wheelchairs or require specialized transportation to have an opportunity to meet drivers and become familiar with the bus before the first day of school.

The district is planning to make regular driver safety meetings part of the transportation program as well.

Pettit said the changes are intended to do more than solve the immediate driver shortage. He wants the district to spend the coming year rebuilding transportation procedures so the same problems do not repeat when school begins next fall.

“We’re going to spend this whole year revamping and revising,” Pettit said.

The board also approved $68,775 in electrical work at the district’s bus barn and distribution facility. JJ’s Electric submitted the low bid for the project, which includes electrical service needed to provide outlets where buses can be plugged in during cold weather.

Finally, the board formally approved the district’s bus routes for the 2026-27 school year.

Taken together, the actions represent what Pettit described as an effort to move transportation from a recurring source of frustration into a safer and more reliable system.

For families who have dealt with delayed buses and route blackouts during the opening weeks of school, however, the most immediate measure of success may be much simpler: whether the bus shows up when it is supposed to.