HOWLAND — Months after Superintendent Kevin Spicher said district officials continue to seek bus drivers, the Howland Board of Education passed resolutions that would bring three to the district for the 2025-26 school year.

The board on Monday approved granting one-year limited contracts to Dennis Brooks, effective Aug. 25, as well as Glenn Conway and Josh Cupp on Monday — pending satisfactory results of all of their requirements. Cupp is already in place, according to Spicher.

The board also accepted the resignation of bus driver Barbara Buxton, per her request at the end of the day Aug. 15. Buxton had been with the district since 2024.

Jeff McVicker, the district’s transportation supervisor, said the district has 21 drivers and 22 routes, which comes after route condensing. Spicher said they had 27 drivers previously, meaning that even with the new hires, they’re still facing a shortage.

BUS ROUTES

During the board members’ briefings toward the end of the meeting, board president Julie Altawil said there have been talks about bus stops in the district — resulting in her asking whether transporting children to school is required by law.

Spicher said the district is required to transport students from kindergarten to sixth grade, not seventh grade and beyond.

“We could, if the board ever felt that there was a reason to remove it entirely, it (the route) could be removed,” Spicher said. “It’s also not required by law to transport children two miles from the circumference all the way around the district or a building.”

Spicher said in terms of routes, the district was “well above” state minimums and they’ve stayed on top of it. He said the routes have been in place for the past two years because of the diverging diamond project, which was a cause to expand them.

Spicher said the Ohio Department of Education recommends fewer stops because the bus not stopping 25 to 35 times with traffic behind and in front of it reduces the amount of risk of accidents.

“We’ve not had any incidents at any of the bus stops we’ve put in place to date, so that’s the important thing,” Spicher said. “(The state) does not require sidewalks. The state actually endorses bus stops because they believe that it’s safer to have a bus stop five times than 35 times.”

Spicher said it was a matter of “putting things together” to make sure the district was saving on everything, like dollars on gas money, adding that the district has always had the stops in place — even when other districts didn’t.

“This is a sense of urgency; we don’t have a choice this time around, so we’re doing it and putting it in place the best we can, but we feel very confident,” Spicher said. “And no bus stops ever occur on a busy thoroughfare — the bus stop is that child’s address, so we can assure the families of that.”