Sunrise Transportation

Solving Chicago’s Bus Driver Shortage for Special Needs Students

Unlike a typical bus route, special needs students require personalized transportation provided by highly trained drivers and aides who pick them up and drop them off at their front door. But the combination of the nationwide school bus driver shortage – which is being felt acutely here in Chicago and Northern Illinois – and the continued increase in students with special needs has made providing this specialized form of transportation even more challenging.

At the same time, the unemployment rate for African Americans in Illinois sits at 7.7%, nearly twice the national average. This is an inexcusable statistic at a time when there are ample opportunities for black men and women to establish a well-paying career as a school bus driver, a rewarding job that offers a flexible schedule and the opportunity to make a difference in our communities. It is essential that we find new and creative ways to both attract school bus drivers in the African American community, but that we prioritize recruiting the type of patient, emotionally intelligent individuals who have the temperament to work with and care for students with special needs.

Finding more specialized drivers has become an even bigger priority as the number of differently abled students continues to grow. In 1990 – the same year that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law – roughly 4.7 million students with disabilities were enrolled in grades K through 12 in the U.S. In 2022, that number increased to 7.3 million. In Chicago alone, there was an increase of roughly 2,500 special needs students who needed school bus transportation from 2023 to 2024, a 32% passenger increase.

Further adding to the complexity is that drivers who transport special needs students are both harder to recruit and require more training than typical bus drivers. While any school bus driver bears a tremendous amount of responsibility for the safety and well-being of the students they transport, those who work with special needs students must be able to provide the routine and structure that these students need and thrive on. Things like safety consciousness, consistency, reliability, and trustworthiness are key attributes that every driver transporting students with special needs must have. However, finding individuals with these specific skillsets adds additional layers to our recruiting, screening, and hiring process, making these jobs tougher to fill when there are already widespread bus driver shortages.

And these shortages don’t just impact students. A recent survey from the University of Chicago’s NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that a third of parents nationwide have missed work because they’ve been forced to drop off or pick up their children from school, and 11% of parents have even lost a job because of school transportation responsibilities.

As the leader of human resources and community outreach for Sunrise Transportation, a school bus company that specializes in transporting differently abled students in Chicago and across Northern Illinois, I’ve witnessed first-hand the difficulties these students confront when their needs cannot be met, but I’ve also seen the incredible things that can happen when they are.

Because of the tailored, personalized service we provide, our drivers and aides form close bonds with students and their families. In fact, many drivers transport the same students throughout their entire academic careers, and are often invited to birthday parties, graduations, and even weddings for the students they’ve driven for years. This level of experience, familiarity, comfort, and trust are critical to the work we do.

Which is why we are constantly exploring new ways to recruit drivers who are patient, empathetic, compassionate, and able to exhibit calm in stressful situations to reduce anxiety for our passengers and their families. We are actively pursuing new avenues to find and recruit the drivers we need and that our passengers deserve, including partnering with churches like Broadview Missionary Baptist Church and other African American community organizations to find exceptional individuals who may never have considered a highly rewarding career as a bus driver for students with special needs.

Chicago is facing a dual crisis that is impacting the lives of our students and our communities; we don’t have enough school bus drivers and there are too many black men and women out of work. To meet the moment and raise up our communities, we are collaborating with African American organizations in Chicago to attract and recruit new drivers and aides who can support and enrich the lives of special needs students and their families ensure they are afforded the same opportunities, no matter their circumstances.e

Shelitha Beacham is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Sunrise Transportation, a leading outsourced student transportation services provider for children with special needs in Northern Illinois and Connecticut.

Providing School Bus Transportation for All Eligible Students Is Essential to Supporting Families

In a recent letter to the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Public Schools board member Angel Gutierrez rightly asserts that “accommodating special needs students is not a burden,” and that providing eligible students with transportation to and from school is part of our shared legal and ethical responsibility to ensure that all children have access to a high-quality public education.

The fact is that providing school bus transportation for all eligible students is critically important to children and their families and should never be viewed as a luxury or expendable budget item.

When parents don’t have access to reliable school transportation, it can negatively impact academic outcomes
for students and job opportunities for parents. A recently released report from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs research found that when parents are forced to take on the responsibility of taking their children to and from school, 35% of parents say they have missed work, while 11% have even lost a job. Additionally, 37% of parents said that their child has missed school services, tutoring, or academic help due to transportation issues.

The study also illustrates just how widespread the issue has become. Four in five school districts nationwide are currently experiencing a bus driver shortage, which has forced a quarter of those districts to cut or shorten bus routes as a result. Concerningly, a third of all parents surveyed report that school bus service isn’t available in their area at all.

As worrying as these trends are for all families, as the head of a school bus company that specializes in transporting students with special needs in across Northern Illinois and Connecticut, the fact is that the ongoing bus driver shortage and lack of school transportation options disproportionally impacts students with special needs.

On a basic level, picking up groups of students at multiple bus stops is far simpler than the type of personalized, door-to-door “individualized” pickups we provide every day to thousands of students with special needs.

Additionally, bus drivers who work with special needs students – and the aides who assist them –require not only more training than typical school bus drivers, but a particular temperament and heightened level of emotional intelligence. While patience is certainly a quality that any school bus driver must possess, we always look to recruit drivers who are especially empathetic, compassionate, and able to exhibit calm in stressful situations to reduce anxiety for our passengers and their caregivers.

Safety consciousness, consistency, reliability, and trustworthiness are also key attributes that any driver
transporting students with special needs must have. While every school bus driver bears a tremendous amount of responsibility for the safety and well-being of the students they transport, special needs students often require – and thrive on – routine, consistency, and structure.

Many of our drivers will transport the same students for years as they progress through school. The relationships
and bonds drivers form with students and their families – and the level of experience, familiarity, comfort, and trust that they establish – are critical to the services we provide. However, finding folks with these specific skillsets adds additional layers to our recruiting, screening, and hiring process, making these jobs tougher to fill when there are already widespread driver shortages.

Beyond simply finding the right people for this specialized work, the fact is that we simply need more bus drivers and aides than ever before. In 1990, roughly 4.7 million students with disabilities were enrolled in grades K through 12 in the U.S. In 2022, that number increased to 7.3 million. In Chicago alone, there was an increase of roughly 2,500 special needs students who needed school bus transportation from 2023 to 2024, a 32% passenger increase for a system already short on drivers.

Despite these obstacles, we continue to pursue new avenues to find and recruit the drivers we need and our passengers deserve. To tap into new pools of talent, we are partnering with churches and community organizations to find individuals with the qualities we seek who may never have considered a highly rewarding career as a bus driver for students with special needs.

As we work to address these challenges, it is worth pointing out that 2025 marks the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act being signed into law. The landmark piece of legislation, which prohibits discrimination based on disability and guarantees equal access across public life, has had a wide-ranging impact, not the least of which is maintaining accessibility standards for schools and transportation systems.

It is critical that we continue to focus on advancing the goals that this groundbreaking legislation first codified 35 years ago. Beyond just guaranteeing that every student has access to a high-quality public education, we must ensure that school bus transportation is viewed not as a luxury but a right, and that every eligible student is provided with the necessary transportation to and from school that meets their individual and unique needs.

Driver Dispatch: Don Hamburg

I’m heading into my seventh year working as a bus driver for differently abled students with Sunrise Transportation outside of Chicago in Naperville, Illinois. If I had to sum up the experience in one word, it would be special.

I've always had a soft spot for helping kids with special needs, and Sunrise gave me the opportunity to turn my desire to give back to my community into something really meaningful.

If I’m being honest, the work isn’t always easy. Caring for special needs students can be complicated and stressful, and the job certainly requires a lot of patience. But these kids deserve to be treated with dignity, compassion, and care, and I often remind myself: if not me, then who?

What makes this job truly unique is how the kids and I communicate with each other, whether it’s spoken or not. Even when a student doesn’t communicate in traditional ways, we still find ways to connect, and that connection means everything to me. It makes me feel like I’m not just their bus driver, but their friend. I’m a part of their lives, and they’re a part of mine.

Over the years, I’ve had families who’ve requested me specifically to be their child’s driver year after year. In fact, I’ve done door-to-door school bus pickups for two families with special needs students for four years in a row.

When a family requests and entrusts you to drive – and really, to care for – their children, it is and incredibly rewarding feeling. But that familiarity is also really important to the work we do as caretakers for differently abled students. Regularity and consistency matter deeply to these kids, and I’m honored to be a part of their daily routine. I’ve been invited to birthday parties, graduations, and have received more thank-you cards than I can count.

Even after a student moves on from my care, their parents will sometimes reach out to remind me how much our relationship meant to their child. That means the world to me, and I know how much it means to them to have someone they can trust transporting the most valuable thing in their life: their child.

At the end of the day, anyone can drive a car, but it takes someone special to drive a school bus for special needs kids. And I’m grateful every day that I get to be that someone.

Driver Dispatch: Karie Aguilar

Driving a bus for special needs students in Naperville, Illinois is a deeply fulfilling experience that brings connection and gives me purpose and joy every single day.

One of the most rewarding things for me being able to build bonds with the kids, especially the differently abled students who are nonverbal. Over time, I learn their unique ways of communicating, whether it’s through a hand gesture, a certain look in their eyes, or the way their face lights up when they see me. These small moments of connection mean everything to me.

But to build those bonds, develop trust, and learn to communicate with kids who have special needs all comes down to patience, patience, and more patience. To do this job transporting special needs children to and from school every day, you have to learn and be mindful of their boundaries and be respectful of each child’s comfort zone. But once you build that trust and understanding, our relationships become something truly special.

For example, there is one child I drive every day who runs to the bus with his arms wide open every time I pick him up. That kind of excitement and trust is what makes this work so meaningful to me.

It’s also incredibly important to me to ensure that every special needs student is treated with the respect they deserve, especially when it comes to safety. I think it is important to always explain to every student why we do certain things, like buckling their seatbelt or staying seated at all times on the bus. I try to make sure they’re a part of the process and know why it’s important to obey safety directions, so they can feel comfortable on the bus and also take that knowledge into the world.

Not only is being a driver for special needs students very rewarding, but I have a personal connection to the work. I have a few special needs kids in my own family, and those relationships and connections have taught me so much and made me appreciate what I do so much more. It’s helped me be more empathetic, more patient, and more in tune with what these kids need. At the end of the day, it’s not just about getting them back and forth to school. It’s about making each ride feel safe, joyful, and full of care. And that’s what keeps me coming back every day.

Driver Dispatch: Lesa Salsbury 

I’ve been behind the wheel with Sunrise for 14 years. I currently drive bus #58, picking up students door-to-door in Rockford, Garden Prairie, and Highroad. Although I live in Crystal Lake these days, I was born and raised in Rockford, so every turn I take on my route feels like coming home.  

Driving a school bus may not sound glamorous, but I’m not exaggerating when I say that this work has filled my heart in ways I could have never imagined. 

Sure, there are early days, snowy roads, and unexpected turns, but the joy far outweighs the challenges. I get to spend my mornings and afternoons with some of the most incredible students I have ever met, and as much as I’m happy to be their driver, I think they’re equally as happy to be on board. In fact, everyone seems to want to be on my bus! 

I’ve seen shy little ones blossom into confident young adults, and I’ve cheered them on every step of the way. They make me proud every single day. One of my kids has been with me from the time they were in fifth grade, and I’ve formed lifelong bonds with students I’ve literally watched grow up.
I’ve had kids I’ve driven for years invite me to their graduations, while another student told me that I helped him pass his drivers’ license exam, all because of the lessons he learned from my driving.  

While I value the relationships I’ve made with students and their families, my biggest priority as a Sunrise bus driver is safety. It is such a rewarding feeling every day knowing that when you get your students to school and back home safely.  
At the end of the day, it’s all about the kids. Showing them kindness, giving them a sense of stability, and reminding them that the world is full of possibilities. That’s why I do what I do. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Driver Dispatch: Brenda Smith

I’ve been driving special needs students to and from school for 27 years. I’ve driven some students – who I call “my kids” – to and from school for eight years to the point where I’ve become a part of their families.  

Although I initially started my career as a substitute teacher, I realized my heart was drawn more to the moments outside the classroom.  I took what I thought would be a temporary job driving a school bus, but nearly three decades later, it is hard to explain the impact it has had on my life and all the incredible bonds I’ve formed with my kids and their families.  

I’ve been invited to weddings, birthday parties, graduations, and even funerals, all to celebrate the lives of the students I’ve gotten to know. Families have thrown me surprise birthday parties and given me thoughtful gifts, just to show how deeply they appreciate me.  

I cried when a former student found me on Facebook to tell me she was getting married and wanted me there for the happiest day of her life, and I’ve also stood beside a parent, who became like a sister to me, at the funeral service of a former student who used to call me “Auntie.” 

These special bonds are why, even after I recently moved to the South Suburbs, I still drive sixty miles a day to and from Naperville so I can keep the route I’ve driven for decades.  

You have to have heart to do this job. The heart to make that sixty-mile commute, so your kids can have the reliability and comfort of knowing who’s behind the wheel taking them to school. As a grandmother to an autistic child myself, driving for Sunrise is and always has been more than just a job for me. It’s not about the paycheck—it's about the people.  

Every one of my kids is special, and it’s hard to put into words what they can teach you about yourself.

Opinion: The Americans with Disabilities Act and CT students

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) continues to play a crucial role in ensuring students with disabilities in Connecticut have equal opportunities at school. This article highlights ways schools can do better, share success stories, and inspire changes that make learning more inclusive for everyone. To dive into the full insights and recommendations, you’ll need to access the link to read the full article:

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