Job Shortages

Students wait for sixth period to start during Targeted Instruction time in the CCA on Thurs. Sept. 9. Photo by Sydney Territo.

Short-staffed

Cafeteria, busing departments search for employees

Sydney Territo terrisyd000@hsestudents.org

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a severe drought when it came to job o ers due to the economic strain placed on businesses. Despite looser regulations, these e ects are still felt today. According to Reuters, an international news organization, regardless of the increase in hiring opportunities, there has not been a proper recovery of employment rates due to restrictions and fears of COVID-19. In turn, this has caused a cascade e ect on understa ng all across the United States and is seen in Fishers with a prominent sta ng shortage in both the transportation and food service departments in the school departments in the school district. district. As a result, the department As a result, the department heads have had to nd ways to heads have had to nd ways to adapt. Transportation director adapt. Transportation director Zach McKinney worked around Zach McKinney worked around the shortage of bus drivers by the shortage of bus drivers by implementing a three-tiered implementing a three-tiered busing system, which staggered busing system, which staggered start and end times for the start and end times for the di erent grade levels so more di erent grade levels so more routes could be achieved with routes could be achieved with fewer bus drivers. “You know, I would say that on average, in my experience, we had about 10 drivers retire,” McKinney said. “ e average age of my sta is 55, so for a lot of the people who work in my department, this is their plan for retirement. ey’re trying to stay occupied a er retirement, but those in their later stages of life are ready to enjoy their retirement and will retire from being a bus driver. Because of COVID the previous year, going into the 2021 school year I saw an uptick, so instead of an average of about 10, we had 32 drivers either resign or retire.” According to McKinney, before the staggered start and end times, the bell times were so closely the bell times were so closely coordinated that many students coordinated that many students would have to wait for bus drivers would have to wait for bus drivers to nish other routes before being to nish other routes before being picked up. is caused them picked up. is caused them to have to stand through cold to have to stand through cold weather and storms, which was weather and storms, which was something he wanted to avoid. something he wanted to avoid. “For us, we’ve been very “For us, we’ve been very fortunate,” McKinney said. “We fortunate,” McKinney said. “We are short-sta ed, but with a threeare short-sta ed, but with a threetiered system we’ve been able to tiered system we’ve been able to accommodate our routes and generally, even with our driver shortage, we’ve been running on time.” While the busing situation could be solved by reordering the schedules, the food service department had not found a simple solution. Instead, they had to make more sacri ces due to a reduced sta count, which meant cutting some programs like the CCA café. During its time being open, the CCA café would open in the mornings before school, stay open throughout the day, including lunch, and would o er hot sandwiches and pizzas a er school. ey o ered hot and cold drinks such as lemonade, iced co ee and tea. e CCA iced co ee and tea. e CCA café was popular, as students café was popular, as students would line up before school to would line up before school to get their breakfast, snacks and get their breakfast, snacks and hot food a er school. Senior hot food a er school. Senior Basil Koch experienced the café Basil Koch experienced the café during their time as a freshman during their time as a freshman and sophomore and knows what and sophomore and knows what it was like when it was open. it was like when it was open. Students like Koch feel as though Students like Koch feel as though it brought a special quality to it brought a special quality to the school, and that without it, the school, and that without it,

the atmosphere is just a little bit bleaker than it was. “You would go and just get anything you needed, including breakfast or a snack. It was a positive experience, especially in the mornings when people used to get in line to get co ee and stu ,” Koch said. “It used to be something you could do that was fun, and you could get a parfait and stu , but now everyone just stands around in the mornings. I feel like the CCA should come back because it added a little spice to everybody’s life.” rough the strain that the department heads have experienced, they have persevered and are working towards bringing their sta ng back up to where they were before COVID-19 hit. e food services department has already started to see a bounce back in workers, and they are planning on reopening some serving lines and the café that were closed due to shortages. “ ankfully the understa ng problem is improving,” Food Services Director Andria Ray said. “Speci cally at FHS, we are down to 2 open positions, when we started the year with 6 openings. We have hired new sta that should be able to help us open during the day and once we hire the last 2 positions, we should be able to open a er school.” Now that the understa ng in the cafeteria has started to resolve itself, the hope is that the transportation department will be able to do the same. “I hope to see it bounce back, but as you know, everyone’s hurting for sta ng. ere’s not a huge drive right now to get people back into the workforce like we need to,” McKinney said. “I think there’s potential for nding the right people, and we’re going to do a hiring fair here in the next coming weeks to try and get interest, because I would like to see 10-15 more sta members added to our employee roster.”

The CCA café has been closed for most of the school year, but will likely reopen in the next month. Photo by Sydney Territo.