Osceola County's school district badly needs bus drivers, the shortage is so severe that some students are showing up late to school because their buses are late. Some complaints have been filed over buses not showing up to bus stops at all.
Gina Reyes has daughters in Osceola County's public school system, and she says the bus-driver shortage has been more than just a minor inconvenience.
“My daughters called me from the bus stop because their bus did not show up at all,” said Reyes.
So instead of heading straight to work, Reyes had to pick up her daughters and take them to school. Then the very next day, she had to do it again.
Reyes’s children weren’t the only ones stuck waiting.
“It’s concerning because [that bus not showing up] leaves 87 kids at the bus stop. Some of them won’t get to school and some of them will be late to school so it’s concerning,” said Reyes.
And it’s happened to other students at schools bus stops throughout the county, according to a school district spokesperson, who confirmed the district is short about 24 bus drivers this year.
Without those drivers they are using substitutes, who are working to get to all of the stops.
But for parents like Reyes they just hope something happens soon so they don’t have to worry about how their kids are getting to school.
“Hopefully they find some new bus drivers,” added Reyes.
The school district spokesperson explained they need more drivers. And until then they get more they will be working with substitute drivers, and will also have qualified transportation staff members working the school bus routes.