(Photo Courtesy of YouBehindtheWheel.com)

Lansdale, PA (July 14, 2021) – Across Pennsylvania, 88% of K-12 students from urban, rural and suburban communities begin and end their day on the school bus. But a shortage of drivers jeopardizes Pennsylvania’s ability to get 1.5 million students back and forth safely to school, sporting events and activities.

In order to address this shortage, the Pennsylvania School Bus Association (PSBA) is pleased to announce the official launch of their school bus driver recruitment campaign. The campaign is a statewide initiative aimed at raising public awareness of the school bus driver shortage as well as providing a number of resources that can be used to recruit new school bus drivers.

“Our school bus drivers are trained professionals who love what they do and provide an essential service to our communities,” said Denille Girardat Myers, PSBA President. “I would like to thank our Membership Committee and our Driver Recruitment Campaign Task Force for all their efforts to ensure our school bus driver recruitment campaign, You Behind the Wheel, will raise awareness about the benefits of becoming a professional school bus driver. The final outcome will allow our members to be involved in our overall campaign and to personalize various parts of it to meet their recruitment needs.”

At the heart of the campaign is a website – YouBehindTheWheel.com – featuring a job portal that connects interested individuals with driver openings in their backyards. Those who want to learn more about becoming a school bus driver are encouraged to visit the website. School bus transportation is widely recognized as the safest way to get students to and from school.

“We’re proud that during the pandemic school bus drivers remained on the job, dealing with various types of schedules and working as full partners with our school districts,” said Aaron Sepkowski, PSBA 2nd Vice President and Membership Committee Chair. “Our membership committee had this fabulous vision two years ago that our members would benefit from a driver recruitment campaign. Our members are working hard to ensure the bus driver seat will be filled as we plan for a full schedule of school and activities this fall.”

Individuals interested in learning more about becoming a school bus driver should visit YouBehindTheWheel.com.

The Pennsylvania School Bus Association was founded in 1980 and consists of over 300 school bus contractors and industry partners who have come together to be a strong voice for school bus safety and the school bus contracting industry.