Marco Students Without Buses

The wheels on the bus do not go round and round for Marco Island Charter Middle School (MICMS) students. The day before school started in August, nearly 100 students who depend on the bus were informed there was no school bus for them. Approximately a month into the school year, there is still no school bus service for Marco Island Charter Middle School, which has about 350 students in sixth through eighth grades. 

Despite the debacle, MICMS is in recovery mode, having recently purchased three school busses and preparing to provide bus service by early to mid-October, school officials said. 

“We really are in a pickle. There isn’t anybody,” said MICMS principal Margo Heidenreich.  

In the meantime, the school is opening at 7:00 AM to accommodate parents who need to get to work before school starts, and the school extended their after-school hours until 5:00 PM. 

Collier County School District had provided school bus service to MICMS for the past 25 years and MICMS paid toward that service, said Heidenreich. Then, in late 2023, the District informed MICMS that they would no longer provide bus service, Heidenreich said.  

“Collier County Public Schools provided bus transportation services to Marco Island Charter Middle School through an annual agreement that expired on June 30, 2024,” said Chad Oliver, chief communications officer for Collier County Public Schools in an email to Coastal Breeze News.  

“CCPS continues to experience a shortage of bus drivers. The feasibility of continuing the transportation service contract was not possible,” Oliver said. 

“In November of 2023, CCPS notified MICMS that we would not be able to renew the contract. This was done so that they would have ample time to secure other arrangements for transportation or inform their parents that transportation would not be provided,” Oliver continued. 

Charter schools are independently operated, and Florida statutes permit charter schools to contract with a school district, private provider, or parents to provide transportation, he said. 

Since the District is not obligated and was no longer planning to provide bus service to the charter school, which is open to any Collier County students, MICMS began seeking other arrangements and found most transportation companies were not interested or able to provide the service either. 

“It kind of left us in a lurch,” Heidenreich said.  

In May, MICMS paid a deposit to a private company for service, said Heidenreich. It didn’t work out. 

“They ended up not able to provide bus service,” Heidenreich added. The night before school started, the school used all communication methods, including social media, to inform families that there were no buses for the first day of school on August 13.  

Days prior to school starting, the Fort Lauderdale-based company, Kidology Enterprises, contacted MICMS and requested more money than their original quote, citing a need to meet increased insurance costs, said Heidenreich. The MICMS board, she said, was not willing to pay more.  

Lack of school bus drivers is another obstacle, Heidenreich said. 

Requests for comment from the transportation company, Kidology Enterprises, went unanswered as of press time, Monday, September 16.  

As the school awaits the arrival of their three buses recently purchased from out-of-state, and seeks the drivers needed to operate them, parents are urged to call the school at 239-377-3200 if they require before or after-school accommodations or assistance. 

“It’s inconvenient, especially for our families off the island,” said Heidenreich.  

“We really thought we had it. We worked out the routes with [Kidology Enterprises]. All they had to do is come in with their buses,” she said.  

There was at least one bus on site and the bus company picked up that bus and declined to offer service the night before school started, said Heidenreich. 

“It was terrible. How do you leave kids stranded like that?” she asked. 

In the meantime, students are carpooling and finding other ways to make it work, she said.  

The cost of the buses is “within the ballpark” of what the school was going to pay Kidology, which is considerably more than the school paid the District for bus service, said Heidenreich.  

The purchase of the buses alone cost about $145,000 each, she said. This doesn’t include the costs of maintenance, fuel, insurance and drivers’ pay, among other costs. In comparison, MICMS paid the District about $100,000 each school year for bus service, said Heidenreich. 

The charter high school, Marco Island Academy, currently has bus service provided by MBI Tours. 

For the middle school, the benefits of having their own buses include increased availability and flexibility for athletic events, field trips, clubs and other MICMS uses. 

MICMS is still hiring part-time, licensed school bus drivers at an hourly rate of $22.50 for approximately 20-25 hours each week, according to the hiring post on Indeed.com. Just weeks ago, at the beginning of the school year, Kidology Enterprises had a similar job posting in search of Marco Island school bus drivers.  

The shortage of school bus drivers is reported statewide in Florida. Some causes for the shortage may include the ease of which a driver can lose the commercial driver's license, which costs thousands of dollars in certification to obtain and replace if they let their commercial license expire for one year. In some cases, this can be due to temporarily working in a different field. If a driver does not pay the increased costs of a CDL renewal one year, it’s as if the driver never had one, no matter how clean their driving record or how long they had driven commercial vehicles prior. This may be a financial hurdle made more common during and immediately following the Covid 19 pandemic when employment opportunities in public transportation were low. In the meantime, other drivers who maintained their CDLs often switched to more lucrative driving jobs during and following the pandemic. 

Marco Island Charter Middle School was founded more than 25 years ago when parents sought an alternative to their children being stuck on a school bus headed to and from Naples each day, often spending two hours a day in transport. 

Ironically, more than 100 students currently endure that hour-long ride each way daily because they live off the island, particularly in East Naples, and choose to attend MICMS. 

According to school statistical reports, more than a third of MICMS students live in primarily non-English speaking homes, and at least as many students qualify for free and reduced lunch programs, for which the school receives no tax dollars, unlike traditional public schools.  

These and other factors lead to MICMS being dependent upon private fundraising, and now the lack of school bus transportation may be putting particular stress on these families.  

Nearly 10 years ago, MICMS bought two 25-seat buses for athletes’ transportation that was largely funded by Marco Island’s business community, including Gorman’s Auto Service of Marco Island and Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort, Golf Club and Spa, among others, at the time. The buses were wrapped with advertising from these local sponsors. 

Now, the upcoming RockTober Fest fundraiser, scheduled 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM Friday, September 27, at Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort and Spa on Collier Boulevard, along with a GoFundMe page, GoFund.Me/c72c4525, are among the ways the community can support MICMS.