Nearly a dozen canceled bus trips put pressure on Laconia coaches, student athletes

LACONIA — First Student, a transportation company contracted with Laconia School District to provide daily bus rides to and from schools as well as extra-curricular activities, canceled almost half a dozen trips to athletic events last month, causing headaches for student athletes, parents and staff.

“We had two games canceled today, and more than a half dozen games canceled between the middle school and high school so far this year,” Athletic Director Craig Kozens said on Tuesday.

Kozens said it is discouraging for school leaders, but the most disappointing aspect is the direct affect on student athletes. He also said there are parents who arrange to leave work early to see their children play, referees are stuck waiting at the fields for teams to show up, and it is overall “just a huge inconvenience.

“Another thing is that now I have 40 sandwiches in my fridge, because we had two buses cancel today,” Kozens said. “There is a trickle-down. It affects a lot.”

On Tuesday night, the boys’ soccer team was supposed to travel to Campbell High School in Litchfield, and the girls’ soccer team was headed to Keene. Both were postponed, with the boys’ team scheduled to play Oct. 2, and the girls’ team rescheduled for Friday, Oct. 10.

Kozens said he has never had trouble getting a varsity team to a game in his 15 years as athletic director until this year. It becomes a struggle for all involved, as makeup games are difficult to schedule. Suddenly, student athletes are playing three or four games a week, sometimes back to back.

Kozens spoke with staff at First Student on Tuesday afternoon, who told him a lack of drivers led to the cancellations, as well as this week, a driver calling out sick for the entire week. They told Kozens, as well as Business Administrator Diane Clary, the issue should be ironed out soon. However, Kozens noted this is the same response the district has received since the beginning of the school year.

“They said they would be all set the third week of September, and we have heard that since August,” Kozens said. “It is frustrating. I feel bad for them, too. There are only so many bodies to put behind the wheel.”

Kozens made clear First Student has always done a great job and been very accommodating in the past, and recognizes it's an important job, and an involved process for people to be licensed to drive a bus.

Otherwise retired, David Drapcho has been working about 25 hours a week as a bus driver for the past eight years, driving for Inter-Lakes and covering the Sandwich route. He said it isn’t just a walk in the park to gain certification. Drivers need a commercial drivers license, school bus driver certification and proper training to start the job.

“You can’t just walk off the street and start driving,” Drapcho said. “You have to go through quite a bit of training and certification.”

He said there appear to be bus driver shortages across the country. This causes drivers to double up routes, or call upon chartered drivers in a bind.

Kozens said in the past, First Student has “always bent over backward,” and these problems must mean there is a definite issue.

However, with almost a dozen cancellations, and another dozen delayed game starts, it has become an exhausting situation for district administrators, students and parents to navigate.

Kozens explained that many times, the bus driver assigned to drive teams to games is just coming off a regular afterschool route, so they won’t pick up athletes until 4 p.m. This automatically puts the team behind schedule. One major obstacle is the district isn’t finding out about cancellations or delays until the day of the games, sometimes within only a couple hours.

Another hurdle for Kozens is ensuring the school’s teams adhere to New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association rules dictating varsity squads' seasons be completed by a specific date. For example, field hockey needs regular season games to be done by Saturday, Oct. 18, and soccer by Saturday, Oct. 25.

Kozens said the district has gotten creative. On Sept. 19, they had two people who were certified to drive the Huot Career and Technical Center bus who got the boys’ soccer team to Coe-Brown Northwood Academy for a game. In another instance, a First Student substitute driver was able to drive to a game when another driver canceled.

Kozens said all teams have suffered one way or another, but volleyball has had some especially late nights due to delays. Recently, the volleyball team traveled to Oyster River High School in Durham, but didn’t have a bus available to pick them up until 4 p.m. The varsity team was able to play late, but junior varsity had to cancel.

“We do things in a systematic way, and this is a huge monkey wrench in the system, but we will survive,” Kozens said.

Kozens noted some schools have purchased 15-passenger vans, because rules now allow coaches to drive students. He believes this could be a trend of the future.

“It could make things easier for teams to get to games when they don’t have to rely on another company and driver,” Kozens said.

At the Sept. 16 Laconia School Board meeting, board member Laura Dunn said several parents reached out to her about that day, as there were “quite a bit of” games canceled.

“Parents have been blowing up my phone saying, ‘What is going on?,’” Dunn said.

Clary said at the meeting there were four last-minute cancellations by First Student that day.

Board member Zachary Dea said it was unfortunate for the cross-country teams, because they missed an invitational meet.

“There’s nothing good about it,” Clary said.

Interim Superintendent Amy Hinds said there were also cancellations on Sept. 19, as drivers called out sick, causing last-minute issues. She added district staff have been in communication with First Student, who said they will be bringing on more drivers and do not anticipate any problems moving forward.

“That is their hope and ours as well,” Hinds said.

First Student, Inc. is based in Cincinnati, Ohio, with a regional location in Belmont. A representative at the Belmont location referred all questions to the corporate headquarters.

“Currently, we are operating all planned routes in New Hampshire by leveraging a variety of solutions to ensure students are transported to and from school safely each day,” said Brenna Rudisill, the manager of strategic communications for First Student, Inc. “Like many transportation providers, we continue to actively recruit new drivers to strengthen our staffing levels.”

Rudisill said First Student offers competitive wages and a strong benefits package to attract and retain quality applicants. She added they have a “healthy pipeline of candidates in training who will soon be on the road, providing additional support.”

“Beyond meeting daily service needs, we remain focused on building additional capacity so we can support not only the districts we serve today, but also surrounding communities as needs arise,” Rudisill said.

Clary said First Student charges the district if they cancel on them, so it would only be fair for them to reimburse Laconia schools for their own cancellation. On Tuesday morning, Clary had requested reimbursements, but had not heard back.

“The worst part is that the student athletes are impacted,” Clary said. “We want our students to get out there and play, and when it is out of our control and they miss out, it is a shame.”

An email to First Student inquiring about plans to reimburse the district was not returned by press time.