School districts in central Ohio are working together to make sure their employees can work through the pandemic.
Superintendent of Hilliard Schools Dr. John Marschhausen said bus drivers were in short supply this winter due to COVID quarantines and paid time off.
He said a business manager within the school district thought of using drivers from Reynoldsburg Schools to help transport their hybrid students to school.
“They're in remote learning and since we're in hybrid and since we have a shortage of bus drivers they're drivers weren't able to drive and we've all tried at different times to have our drivers do different jobs around the district so we can keep paying them,” Marschhausen said.
Marschhausen said drivers are still getting paid from Reynoldsburg and then Reynoldsburg schools bills Hilliard the cost of the drivers.
“They’re all license the same way; they all know how to drive the buses so it’s a win win for all districts,” Marschhausen said.
Reynoldsburg Superintendent Melvin Brown said the agreement started second semester and will provide a small pool of drivers who volunteer to help the other district.
“In these times we have to be creative and we have to be willing to be collaborative to get things done. Obviously, it's for the benefit of kids and I don’t really care where kids may be located, we want to do whatever we can to help kids excel and do well,” Brown said.
The agreement will continue for the first few weeks of January until Reynoldsburg decides to send their students back to a hybrid learning plan.