By THOMAS LUCKIE III

OGDENSBURG -- First Student representative David Kinley presented the Ogdensburg City School District Board of Education and administration with updates and information regarding the school bus transportation company’s current bid proposal to service the district at Monday’s meeting.

“It’s been a while since I’ve stood before the Board of Education and I like to think that’s a positive thing,” Kinley said.

Kinley also stated that there have been “some hiccups” over the years, mostly due to a shortage of experienced and qualified applicants for driver positions.

“We’ve struggled with driver recruitment and driver retention,” he said.

Citing a recent article published in School Bus Fleet magazine, Kinley pointed out that 90 percent of North American school districts surveyed claimed to be experiencing a shortage of school bus drivers.

Wage increases are expected for First Student employees across the district during the next round of contract negotiations.

“I’m optimistic that by raising the scale of all staff – technicians, bus attendants, monitors and certainly drivers – will help us get the proper numbers that we need,” Kinley said.

“Based on the results we’ve had in our Rochester location, we’ve increased the driver’s wages significantly, although they’re not walking in the door every day we’ve been able to keep the work force that we’ve had in place,” he added.

The bid proposal also includes plans for 11 new school buses to be brought into the school district over a three-year period.

A 2017 school bus was parked in the loop in front of Ogdensburg Free Academy and board members, district administration and staff embarked on a tour during the meeting.

The toured bus had equipment to mirror that of the new buses First Student plans to bring into the school district should they be awarded the contract.

Each bus will have multiple cameras on board and be equipped with First Student’s FirstView technology, which allows school administrators to monitor transportation and logistics information, while the Parent App lets parents and other guardians track bus locations and estimated times of arrival of student passengers.