News Photo by Temi Fadayomi Buses are seen parked at the Alpena Public Schools Transportation Center on Wednesday. APS is currently dealing with a large number of bus route cancellations due to staffing shortages and resignations.

ALPENA — Alpena Public Schools urges patience from parents and students as the district deals with a wave of bus route cancellations.

“We absolutely apologize for that inconvenience,” said APS Superintendent David Rabbideau. “We know how difficult it is for families to cover, and we are doing whatever we can to reduce that inconvenience. Our bus drivers are working really hard, but we’re just limited by the number of them that we have.”

APS has experienced a larger number of bus route cancellations because of a staffing shortage that Rabbideau claims is hitting the entire region. Because of those shortages, the district has had to reduce bus routes over the years to compensate.

“Staffing is a challenge for us, like it is for all districts,” said Rabbideau. “We’ve done similar things at some of our neighboring districts over the years, reducing routes so that we can cover more territory with fewer drivers.”

On top of the general shortage of available bus drivers, the resignation of key personnel, such as the district’s now-former transportation director, Brook Krajniak, and transportation dispatcher, Annette Sauls, has also contributed to the busing issues that APS faces.

In addition to those employees fulfilling their assigned positions, they also are trained as bus drivers and are often called to take over if a bus driver is absent. So not having those positions filled means that APS is also missing a bus driver.

“In the past, when we had full route dispatchers and mechanics, they would be able to go out on those routes,” said Rabbideau. “Having two of them resign and down mechanics, as well, that pool of relief drivers is greatly diminished.”

Rabbideau said during an APS board meeting on Monday that three individuals are currently undergoing the six-week training necessary to work as a bus driver.

” It’s not, ‘You’re hired,’ and now you’re behind the wheel, which I think we can all agree is a good thing,” said Rabbideau. “You have to go through training. It takes some time, so, hopefully, they made our way through that process and we started to see some relief.”