Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker activated the National Guard on Monday to help transport students to several cities in the state at the school amid a widespread shortage of bus drivers suffering from a return to face-to-face instruction.
The governor’s order has up to 250 Massachusetts National Guard troops and 90 of those members of the Guard will begin training Tuesday to serve as drivers of school transport vans known as 7D vehicles to solve the shortage of staff in the district, including Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell and Lynn. 7D vehicles are smaller student transport vans that can hold up to 11 people, including the driver according to Massachusetts Motor Vehicle Registry regulations effective July 1, 2020.
Baker, a Republican, said Boston public schools are among those communities that were “not interested” in accepting help from troops at the time, but “left the door open to pursue it sometime later.” , reported The Lowell Sun. Announcing the order on Monday, the governor tweeted, “Safe and reliable transportation to school every day is critical to the safety and education of our children.”
MASSACHUSETTS GO HOSPITAL WITHDRAW FEDERAL LAW IN FAILED HUNTING FOR MISSING THE FOUND VETERAN THAT DECOMPOSES ON STAIRS
“We’ve had conversations with many of our city government colleagues on the driver-related issue, but people weren’t quite sure where everything was going to land,” Baker told the State House Monday, according to Boston. Herald. “Once it became pretty clear that there would be some communities that would be abbreviated … we started talking to the Guard.”
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security said all active Guard personnel will complete vehicle training “to ensure the safety of children and families” and that “drivers will meet all legal requirements for drivers.” 7D “.
“Throughout the mission, the Guard will comply with all safety and health measures,” the statement continued. “The mission will not interfere with the ability of the Massachusetts National Guard to respond and assist in emergencies within the Commonwealth.”
The Massachusetts National Guard “regularly engages with military, police and civilian agencies to provide a wide range of support services for security, logistics, disaster and other missions,” the office said. “The Guard has a proven track record of success in supporting civilian authorities. Their frequent collective training with state and local lifeguards makes them very suitable for various missions.”
In Boston, the first day of school was postponed last week amid a shortage of bus drivers, although incumbent Mayor Kim Janey assured parents that school transportation would not be affected.
Thursday’s one-time rate for students arriving at school stood at just 57 percent, but the district insisted it was better than the five-year average on the first day of school, the Herald reported.
This comes as voters go to the polls on Tuesday to vote in the Boston mayoral election, and some candidates, including city councilor Andrea Campbell, have expressed concern that children are trapped. on the sidewalks waiting for their buses at the beginning of the school year.
The Boston School District is responsible for transporting about 25,000 students, requiring between 690 and 720 drivers. Boston School Bus Drivers Union, United Steelworkers Local 8751, has described bus routing issues as “the worst failure we’ve seen in our careers.” In a statement last week, the union said this “transport chaos is occurring in the context of a historic pandemic.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
The issue of the shortage of school bus drivers is spreading outside of Massachusetts and across the country, complicating the start of a school year already plagued by the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19, the contentious disagreement over masking requirements and the challenge of catching up in the educational field. it was lost as the pandemic crashed last year. Parents of school board meetings across the country have also gone viral to express their opposition to instruction based on critical race theory in public schools a year after protests and riots swept through. the nation after the death of George Floyd.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.