Lowell — Their days are spent leading a 3,400-student school district; teaching seventh-grade math; and running a business that offers student field trips.
But to help fill an ongoing district need, Superintendent Nate Fowler, Lowell Middle School math teacher Mike Arnswald and former Board of Education member Gary Blough are devoting time outside their day jobs as bus drivers.
Blough picks up a vacant route almost every morning; Arnswald hits the road two or three times a week right after school to drive to a band or sporting event. Fowler is finishing up training to fill in as needed.
‘My goal is to keep one more route from being canceled.’
– former Board of Education member Gary Blough
“I’m really getting attached to some of the kids,” said Blough, who stepped down from the board in 2022 after 12 years and started as a substitute bus driver last September. The semi-retired owner of Heidi’s Fall Adventures said he’s enjoying getting up early to get students to school.
“They get to be like my own grandkids. I really didn’t think I would connect with them so much.”
Arnswald’s students are getting used to having their math teacher drive them to their events.
“He’s a really good bus driver. He’s really nice,” said cross-country runner Jack Latchay.
“He makes the ride really smooth,” added teammate Everett Albert.
The Need for More Drivers
The district, like many throughout the country, has faced a shortage of bus drivers in recent years. Currently 22 bus drivers cover 20 routes in the 134-square-mile district. There’s a need for at least two more full-time drivers and substitutes are often needed as well. Transportation office staff members who are trained as drivers often cover routes.
Over the past four or five years, the district has had to condense bus routes and now runs with fewer routes before and after school. Looking ahead, Fowler said he expects retirements from the driver pool in the near future.
“It’s not a problem we see going away,” the superintendent said. “We see it as an ongoing situation where we are going to continue to need to train and hire drivers to cover these routes and keep our transportation program going.”
Blough said he was aware of the bus driver shortage while he was on the board. “I told Nate, when I get off the board, I’ll be a sub … My goal is to keep one more route from being canceled.”
All three men have completed training with the district, with Fowler in the final stages and hoping to drive his first route in October.
Why Not Drive?
The superintendent since 2021, Fowler has held many roles in LAS over 26 years, including teacher, coach, middle school assistant principal, Bushnell Elementary principal, curriculum director and liaison for students facing homelessness.
“One thing I hadn’t done is drive the bus,” Fowler said.
He said he hopes to drive for athletic events and to be able to fill in at the last minute, in order to avoid any sudden route cancellation.
“We’ve had instances where a driver hasn’t been able to make it and we’ve had to cancel a route. We’ve even had that happen during the day and a driver hasn’t been able to do their afternoon route,” he said.
Arnswald, whose eighth-grade and 10th-grade children are in band, said he’s attended field trips and band festivals and thought, “I should be driving this bus.”
He also saw the need last spring when the district was short drivers many times for afterschool sports. Other drivers encouraged him to become certified: “They said it would be a very natural transition for me to step into ‘a classroom with wheels.’ I already had the classroom management piece.”
It’s been another way to connect with students, Arnswald said.
“It’s been great to see kids I had as seventh-graders stepping up on the bus as varsity soccer players or varsity volleyball players.”
Fowler said he credits trainers Crystal Backing and Trevor Harrison for helping him become road-ready and shake off the nerves. It was a reminder of how it feels to be a student, he said.
“The experience of going through the training and the testing highlighted the importance of good teachers. They were great at getting us prepared to do the test,” he said. “It surprised me before the road test how nervous I was and it surprised me how much I felt like it was an accomplishment once I had completed it.”
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