No school bus? No problem. A seventh-grade student in Colorado has a solution of his own. Instead of taking the bus to school in the morning, he hops in his kayak. Josh Smith's school district has a problem like many others across the nation: A shortage of bus drivers."When I began school, it was kinda hard every day," Smith told KUSA. "I'd have to text or call my mom and say like should I ride the bus today? Will they allow me to ride the bus today?"Eventually, Smith got an idea and pitched it to his dad. "One night around dinner, Josh just said, 'Hey Dad, would you mind if I kayaked to school?' And, some kids if they say that, you just kind of laugh if off and say yeah, sure, no problem," Jason Smith said. "But, if I knew if he asked it, he was probably planning on doing it and I needed to be careful in my response."Now, Josh heads to school by water if the conditions are right. It's a two-mile journey that requires him to get up a little earlier, but Josh says he doesn't mind. "I really like how every time I do it the sun rises like when I'm in the middle of the lake and the whole lake is really smooth like glass," Josh told KUSA. "I just think it's really pretty and stuff and I think it's worth it."While Jason Smith could drive Josh to school instead, he said it was important to support his son's idea. "When my now 13-year-old boy approaches me and wants to do something out of his comfort zone, wants to stretch himself a little bit, wants to do something different, something unique, that's a challenge," Jason Smith said. "I gotta back that up."News of Josh's kayak commute has been shared throughout his community."I think that everyone is just intrigued by it because they never heard anything like it," Josh said. When the weather gets too cold, Josh already has his next mode of transportation lined up. "When the lake freezes over and when it's too cold for me to do it, I'm gonna cross country ski to the school," he said. "So, I'm gonna cross country ski across the lake."

BOSTON —

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced Monday he is activating the National Guard to help cities and towns across Massachusetts with school transportation.

The order makes up to 250 personnel available, the governor's office said.

The move, according to the governor's office, comes in response to requests from local communities for assistance with school transportation as the 2021-2022 school year is underway.

Beginning with training on Tuesday, 90 guard members will prepare for service in Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell and Lynn, the governor's office said.

"We've had conversations with colleagues in municipal governments about the issue with drivers, but nobody was really sure where it was going to land," Baker said. "Once it became clear that there were going to be communities that were shorthanded, wasn't going to be a vehicle issue, but an issue with CDLs, we started talking to the Guard."

Baker said the Guard has people who drive trucks and have commercial driver's licenses.

"We asked a bunch of communities if they'd be interested in having Guard people drive vehicles for them, especially the smaller buses, and a bunch of communities said if you can figure out the legal issues and the paperwork and all the rest, that would be great," Baker said.

The Guard personnel will be available to serve as drivers of school transport vans known as 7D vehicles to address staffing shortages in certain districts.

The 7D vehicles are typically smaller school transport vans such as a Ford Transit.

School districts and transportation companies across Massachusetts and the United States have struggled to find enough drivers to staff school buses needed to get children to and from schools.

NRT Bus Company in Haverhill, Massachusetts, which provides school transportation to about 150 school districts, told Boston sister station WCVB last month it has lost approximately 10% of its drivers.

"We're down about 370," John McCarthy, the CEO of the bus company said last week. "We do have about 100 drivers in the pipeline, but we're not where we'd like to be for the start of school.

McCarthy said the pandemic magnified an already growing shortage of drivers due to a number of factors.

"Amazon, demand, and just folks retiring out of the school bus industry," McCarthy said. "Not able to replace those folks as quickly as we would like."

All activated guard personnel will complete vehicle training to ensure the safety of children and families, the governor's office said.

"Drivers will meet all statutory requirements for 7D drivers," the statement said. "Throughout the mission, the guard will comply with all health and safety measures."

NEWTON, Iowa —

Hiring school bus drivers in Iowa has become a difficult task.

It's been such a challenge for the Newton Community School District that teachers are doubling as bus drivers.

"We've go the buses to go on the road, but we don't have the people to go behind the wheel," said Tom Messinger, Newton Community School District superintendent.

More than 700 Newton students rely on district transportation to get to school.

Several teachers and administrators are getting their commercial driver's licenses to help kids get to school.

The district says they can get kids to and from school, but there will be delays.

"We want to get the kids to and from school safely and as quickly as possible, but sometimes we cant the home as quick as we'd like," said David Kretz, Newton Community School District transportation supervisor.

Due to the driver shortage, the district has to combine routes.

Gena Neasham has a daughter in third grade who takes the bus to school. She doesn't want to see her daughter's commute get extended.

"It would just be stressful for the kids to have to ride any longer than they do. I mean, some of them are already riding 45 minutes or so," says Neasham.

The district is stretched thin just to get kids to school, so extracurricular activities could be the next trip cut short.

"If there are times where we can't get enough drivers, then we'd have to either reschedule an event or potentially even get there late, or drop kids off early with supervision," Messinger said.

The district said a third of the school's bus drivers left during the pandemic.

With retirees making up a large portion of their drivers, they're worried about future transportation.

"As far as people coming in and applying off the street, it's almost nonexistent," Kretz said.

"With it being more and more difficult to find drivers, we're going to have to continue to explore some of the other options," Messinger said.

Newton Community School District is looking to hire at least two more drivers.

Krtetz said nobody has applied for those spots.

CINCINNATI — Two days into the new school year, Cincinnati Public Schools and Cincinnati Metro are planning adjustments to a contentious change in the district's transportation plan.

CPS Board of Education member Mike Moroski said the first day gave glimpses into the parts of the plan that worked well and those that need tweaking.

"There were some pretty, I think, traumatic experiences for some families," he said. "I think there were some great experiences for some families."

For the last few weeks of summer, the school district and the transit authority had gone back and forth on what sort of bus service high school students could expect this fall. Previously, Metro provided specific routes with more direct access to the district's high school buildings for students to ride. A bus driver shortage exacerbated by the pandemic, though, caused Metro to have to cancel those routes.

Elementary school students in the district are transported by yellow buses.

The announcement triggered backlash from parents and the teachers union, and school and transit officials scrambled last week to put together a compromise plan that included adding back some routes, extra stops, and utilizing adult staff to help coordinate and chaperone students at key bus stops and locations.

"It could have been better; it wasn't totally catastrophic," Moroski said, applauding Metro bus drivers for their help in helping manage the changes.

"I had a lot of stories from out there in the field of Metro bus operators making it work for our kids, so I'm very grateful for that," he said.

Metro is owned and operated by the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority. Vice president for external affairs Brandy Jones said they anticipated some areas where adjustments would be necessary.

"Certainly there may be some hiccups on the way that we need to adjust, and I ask for parents' patience as we work through those things to make them better for the student families," she told WCPO. She said Metro only heard of a few minor issues on Wednesday, when classes resumed, and that Metro will continue to deploy staff at key stops to continue facilitating the transition.

Among the adjustments CPS will make immediately include training more district staff as crossing guards, asking the city for assistance in traffic control around school campuses before and after classes, and asking Metro to add new routes near Western Hills University High School and Walnut Hills High School.