A shortage of bus drivers is behind new rules for when field trips can arrive and depart from Oak Park and River Forest High School, according to Anthony Arbogast, assistant superintendent for business services. 

On Aug. 22, the District 200 School Board voted to extend its contract with First Student, Inc., the company that provides buses for field trips. Under the contract extension, the district must pay an extra fee of $40 for field trips that pick up or drop off between the hours of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. or 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. This has the potential to limit the number and variety of field trips students take.

 The hourly price for bus service is $70, with a three-hour minimum. The contract was extended for the next two years, until the end of the 2025-2026 school year.

First Student’s buses serve OPRF in a region it calls the Proviso Hub, which includes multiple school districts. It can be hard to ensure buses are on time given the 

many routes in the Proviso Hub, especially given staffing shortages, according to Arbogast. “Due to the shortage of drivers across the transportation providers, when there’s a request of pickup during the time of another district’s student arrival, those drivers that are scheduled to accommodate OPRF students may be delayed on their routes while accommodating other districts,” Arbogast said.   

“This contract is a way to hold First Student accountable for punctuality and also establish a designated scheduling expectation for OPRF students and staff using buses,” he added. 

Could OPRF use a different bus company with more drivers and fewer time restrictions? Arbogast said the district considered price and quality of service before deciding to extend its contract with First Student. “We decided on the extension due to our familiarity and pre existing relationship with First Student,” he said. OPRF’s original contract with First Student went from 2021 to 2024.