Drive a Hard Bargain

When school started in Vermont, one bus route in the town of Eden had nobody to drive it. The company that runs the buses, Lamoille Valley Transportation, sent people from its office out to cover routes, and a nearby district that runs 19 buses had to combine some routes and cancel others. Getting a new driver ready takes anywhere from one month to five, because of the training, the license, and the tests. The job pays about $20 an hour, but only for a few hours in the morning and a few in the afternoon. A warehouse down the road pays the same for a full day, which is why so few people apply.

It is not just Vermont. In 2026, about one school district in four cut or shortened bus routes because there is nobody to drive them, and when a route disappears, the students on it walk, find a ride, or miss first period. Districts cannot outbid that. What they can change is everything else about the job.

Your Task: Imagine you run transportation for a school district. You cannot raise the pay above $20 an hour, and Route B, 11 students on 50 minutes of back roads with no sidewalks, has had no driver since August.

1. Why They Left
Think of someone you know who quit a job or turned one down, and say the real reason. It could be the hours, the boss, or no way to move up. (2 to 3 sentences.)

2. The Posting
Rewrite the school bus driver job so that person would say yes at $20 an hour. You cannot raise the pay, but you can change the hours, add a second district job in the middle of the day, let them bring their own kids on the route, promise summer work, or anything else that costs the district little. Write the posting the way it would appear online, then say what you changed and why it would work on the person from step 1. (The posting, 50 words or fewer, plus 3 sentences.)

3. Still Broken
Name the one thing about the job your posting cannot fix, and say what happens to the students on Route B because of it. (2 sentences.)

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