Duval County Schools sent a message to parents on Sunday about Monday bus delays for the first day of school.
The school system says a driver shortage worsened last week when expected drivers decided not to return for the upcoming school year.
Duval Schools says the contractor it uses is 130 drivers short.
The website to apply to become a bus driver is Transportation / Bus Drivers Wanted (duvalschools.org).
Because of the national school bus driver shortage, our bus contractors are experiencing an abnormally high number of unfilled bus driver positions. That means many of our routes will experience significant delays beginning with the first day of school tomorrow. We want you to be aware of this now for several reasons. First, if possible, you may want to make alternative plans to get to school at this time to avoid potential delays at the bus stop. Second, if you must rely on the bus, please ensure your children are supervised while at the bus stop, especially given that many routes will experience lengthy delays. Third, again for those who must ride the bus, please make sure your children have water and anything else they may need to be safe in the extreme heat while they wait for the bus. Remember that any route that will be more than about 15 minutes late will be listed on our bus delay webpage. We regret that we are in this situation and our contractors are doing all they can to recruit new bus drivers. Nonetheless, we want you to be aware so that you can take appropriate action for your children.