MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colquitt County schools continue to struggle to fill many open positions throughout the county.

The Colquitt County School District has open positions in its transportation, nutritional and custodial departments, and it needs substitute teachers. 

“All these positions are the lifeblood of our schools,” said Ben Wiggins, Colquitt County school superintendent. 

The needs in those positions go back some time, Wiggins said, but the recent pandemic has exacerbated the need for employees. 

“When you already have a shortage then you have people getting sick due to COVID, it just makes the need for more employees even more prevalent,” he said.

The district’s biggest issue is bus drivers, according to Wiggins. The school system currently employs 88 transportation related personnel. This includes 57 route drivers, seven subs, six extracurricular drivers and 18 others, who are typically mechanics. According to Colquitt County Schools Chief Communications Officer Angela Hobby, most of the extracurricular drivers are coaches.

There are currently 11 bus driver positions available as well as 17 nutrition positions. 

“I think it’s more an economic issue than anything else,” said Wiggins. “I don’t know of a superintendent in the country who isn’t in need of people. But we’re making do with what we’ve got.”

Wiggins maintains that while staffing is short, everything is still running smoothly. 

“We have many employees who have CDL licenses picking up routes and helping out wherever they can,” he said.

The district currently has both part time and full time positions available for bus drivers and substitute teachers and full time positions for nutritional and custodial workers. Wiggins encourages anyone qualified to apply.

“The beauty of it is that for some of those positions you can choose when you want to work. We can work around your schedule,” he said.

All qualifications for becoming a bus driver can be completed within Colquitt County at the district’s transportation department, according to Wiggins. The Georgia Department of Driver Services has four requirements to acquire a school bus endorsement:

• Take and pass the general knowledge tests for obtaining a CDL license.
• Take and pass the “passenger” vehicle and “school bus” endorsement knowledge exams.
• Take a driving skills test in a school bus of the same vehicle group as the school bus applicant will drive.
• Applicants who intend to drive a school bus for a public school system may present a signed and notarized form to waive the $35 application fee. That form is linked here: https://dds.georgia.gov/school-bus-endorsement.

Wiggins stated that a continuing problem in education is the lack of young people getting involved in education.

“We need to get our best and brightest. There is a shortage nationwide of young people coming into the education field,” Wiggins said.

This is fairly prevalent in the positions that are currently open in Colquitt County. “A majority” of bus drivers are retirees who might not wish to work full time but still maintain a paycheck and benefits, Wiggins said.

Currently, the school system has been pushing to get these positions filled as quickly as possible. Flyers have been put in schools, there has been a push on their social media, and job postings have been placed in multiple publications, according to Hobby.

If you are interested in applying for any of these available positions, you can contact the district’s human resources department at 229-890-6200. Those specifically interested in bus driving can contact Colquitt County Transportation Director Daniel Dalton at 229-890-6259.