For the wheels on the bus to go ’round and ’round, someone needs to start the engine and steer.
To the misfortune of school districts across the country, people willing to step up to the task are becoming fewer and further between, causing superintendents — including Baldwin-Whitehall’s Randal Lutz — to scramble for solutions.
“When people say, ‘Have you tried everything?’ – I’ve tried everything I know how to do,” he said. “Now, we’re starting to think of things that we’ve really not thought about in the past. It’s time to think differently.”
So he and his colleagues developed a project called Rolling Into the Future: High School CDL Bus Driver Program, through which students can obtain commercial driver’s licenses with the hope that they use their new skills on local thoroughfares.
“We know kids are going to college and the military, but some are ready to go right to the workforce,” Lutz said. “Could we be doing something different as far as workforce development, so to speak, and include this as an area?”
Rolling Into the Future’s viability is predicated on establishing partnerships outside of Baldwin-Whitehall, according to the superintendent.
“Maybe we can team up with someone who does this type of training or this type of development, and to really start thinking about our training model differently, our recruitment differently,” he said.
In that regard, the project received a boost with a $10,143 Neighborhood Learning Grant from the Grable Foundation, a Pittsburgh-based philanthropy. The foundation is working with nonprofit education advocate Digital Promise and its League of Innovative Schools – a coalition of more than 150 districts in 34 states, Baldwin-Whitehall included – to connect members nationwide.
“The school districts, themselves, have become labs for innovation,” Grable communications officer Ryan Rydzewski said. “They are experimenting. They’re trying new things, and it doesn’t always work out. We don’t know where this will lead, but it’s that boldness and willingness to experiment that has led to some really amazing progress.”
A novel aspect of Rolling Into the Future is its “grow-your-own approach, according to Baldwin-Whitehall’s grant request, “ensuring a steady pipeline of trained drivers who are already familiar with the school district and invested in the community.”
For his part, Lutz is a lifelong member of the community as a 1986 Baldwin High School graduate and resident of Baldwin Borough. As such, he’s particularly well-acquainted with the local decline in the number of people who want to drive buses.
“They were looking for part-time work back in the day, and this has grown to be much more than just part-time work. It’s darn near full-time, and it’s a long day,” he said. “They’re getting about seven or seven-and-a-half hours, but there’s a three-hour window in between. So it’s almost taking 10 or 11 hours to get a decent shift, and it’s not necessarily desirable any longer.”
While Rolling Into the Future has the potential for offering a solution, the project is in its formative stages.
“Who knows where it’s going to go,” Lutz acknowledge, “but it’s worth a shot.”
The idea was pitched to other League of Innovative Schools member districts, and those with an interest in partnering with Baldwin-Whitehall are to submit their applications by April 21, according to Rydzewski.
“Digital Promise will play the role of matchmaker, more or less,” he said, and the results of all ensuing partnerships will be shared next spring at the organization’s annual meeting: “Here’s what we achieved. Here’s how we did it. And if this is something you want to replicate, here are the steps you’d need to take. Here are the people you can talk to. Here are the resources you could take advantage of. We’re really excited to see where it leads.”
He expressed similar enthusiasm about Rolling Into the Future, especially with regard to students learning how to navigate the tricky topography of suburban Pittsburgh.
“I don’t know what the training will look like,” Rydzewski said. “But I would imagine if these kids could become bus drivers here, then they can drive anywhere.”