Jeannette Tierney is Upper Darby School District’s bus driver recruiter and she’s concerned. The district is short on drivers and needs dozens, writes Corey Davis for 6abc.

Tierney recruits and trains the drivers. She’s been at this job she loves for 20 years.

Another happy employee?  Bus driver Terry Johnson.

“This is the most fulfilling part-time, full-time job that it is. A lot of flexibility,” Johnson said.

Now Tierney just has to convince others.

Upper Darby pays new employees to train for the CDL (commercial driver’s license). It takes about a month to train for the license for the average person.

Wages start at $18 an hour.  “Once you get your license, you move to $19 for 90 calendar days, and then you’ll go to $21, second anniversary $22, third anniversary $23,” Tierney said.

And while the money is important, first priority is the safety of the 7,000 kids they transport every day.

“At the end of the day when I go home and I put my head on the pillow, I know that I got those kids home safely and when they’re on the bus, they are my kids,” Tierney said.

Read more at 6abc about Jeannette Tierney and the bus driver shortage in Upper Darby.

CBS Evening News does a report on a national school bus driver shortage.