Orange County School District asking parents to drive kids to school amid bus driver shortage
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - The first day of class for Orange County public schools is officially in the books. While many parents excitedly accompany their kids to school, it is actually being highly encouraged by the school district, while they work to hire more bus drivers.
"It is our tradition," Mari Johnson said. "We always ride to school on the first day. Definitely will ride with our boys every now and then throughout the school year, but today, especially for the first day of school."
A robocall and notice went out the day before classes began.
"The transportation team is working diligently to be as efficient as possible, however, there may still be some late buses. If you can transport your child to school, please do so to help provide open seats for those who must rely on the bus."
For now, Superintendent Maria Vasquez said the district has come up with some more efficient routes to help with the shortage and is offering incentives to drivers who do double backs, which is when a driver does two runs for one school.
She said that is mostly happening at the high school level.
"That’s a shortage that we see across the country," Vasquez said. "I think we feel it more here in Central Florida because of Disney, Universal, and even Meers. Their salaries are far above what we are currently paying. Our salaries are negotiated and we’re actually in the midst of negotiations."
She said the district is continuing to promote hiring, but said she is concerned that it may not get much better.
"The shortage is something that I think we’re going to continue to feel," Vasquez said.
For more information on how to apply for a bus driver position, you can go to OCPS.net and click on the Careers link on the front page.