County director addresses background checks for bus drivers

When parents send their kids off to school, they do so trusting the man or woman at the wheel of the school bus. Tyler County, West Virginia, is in need of more of those drivers, which is why transportation and maintenance director for Tyler County Schools Troy Smith spoke in front of the county's board of education to lay out plans to add drivers. Smith acknowledged the strength of the current crop of bus drivers in the county, but stated the need to increase hiring efforts, the Tyler Star News reports. But it is no easy task to add drivers. According to the paper, drivers are subject to 40 hours of classroom training, multiple rounds of interviews, a driver's test and background screening. "The process can be lengthy," Smith said to the board, the Star News reports. "We have one driver-trainer in Tyler County." It isn't just bus drivers who will be subject to screening. According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, pedicab operators in the city must clear a background check before they can begin operating the bicycle-powered vehicles.