Colorado boy, 12, kayakes to school to avoid bus driver shortage – KIRO 7 news Seattle

SILVERTHORNE, Colorado – A resourceful Colorado college student had no intention of letting a nationwide bus driver shortage interfere with his education.

“I’m always looking for new adventures and always trying to do cool stuff that I’ll remember,” said Josh Smith, 12. Daily summit.

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True to his word, the Summit Middle School and Boy Scout student pulled out the kayak he received for his birthday a few years ago and headed for Dillon Reservoir at 6 a.m. on September 8 with her father, Jason Smith, with a small parent guiding from a distance.

“We set up the kayak, and it was really pretty, and I turned on my GoPro and then the sun started to come up. So I took off, and the water was super reflective like a mirror, then the sun started to come up, so it’s really pretty, ”Josh Smith said to the newspaper.

Jason Smith said KDVR that sometimes parenthood is about letting go, which is why he agreed to allow his son to paddle to school rather than insisting on the five-mile car ride to school.

“The easy answer would have been, ‘No, just let me drive you to school. If you can’t get on the bus we’ll take you to school, no problem, ”Elder Smith told the tv channel.

“But I have a 12 year old who wants to be adventurous, wants to do something that none of his buddies would do, and how do I say no to that?” he added.

According to NPR, a recent survey indicated that half of student transport coordinators nationwide characterized their system-specific bus driver shortages as “severe” or “desperate.”

Curt Macysyn, executive director of the National School Transportation Association, called the shortages unprecedented.

“This re-entry period has nothing to do with the previous periods that we have seen,” said Macysyn, whose organization conducted the survey alongside two other professional associations, NPR said. “In previous years we have seen regionalized driver shortages, but nothing as we see it today. “

Josh Smith, who hopes to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout and potentially enroll in the US Air Force Academy, says KDVR that the outing was a bit annoying at times, but worth it.

“I was nervous when I started to go out a bit more, and I realized how vast it was and how far I was from the ground,” he said. told the tv channel.

“When I arrived (at school) I felt accomplished, but I also knew I was a little late for school, so I think I could have done a little better”, a- he added.

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