JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More than 60 buses bringing students to school on the first day of classes in Duval County were delayed Monday morning, according to the district’s website.
RELATED: Most area students head back to school amid Heat Advisory; 2 new schools open in Duval | ‘It’s not safe’: U.S. Highway stands in the way as students in Duval go back to school
The morning delays ranged from up to 30 minutes to up to 60 minutes. One Ed White High School bus was up to 120 minutes late, according to the tracker.
In the afternoon, there were about 54 buses that were either working on getting coverage or delayed, the tracker showed.
Although there were dozens of delays, the number of delays appeared to be fewer than in years past.
MORE: Got a problem with your student’s bus? Here’s who to call.
This comes as DCPS made changes to its school bus policy just weeks ahead of the start of the school year. The policy update states that middle and high school students who live under 2 miles from their assigned schools will not be able to ride the school bus for transportation. In previous years, the limit was a mile and a half.
Superintendent Dr. Chris Bernier talked about how those changes could impact traffic.
“I do believe that it will make a shift in terms of the number of people potentially on the road. We’re prepared in our parent pickup loops to deal with the additional traffic to ensure that we can get kids both in and out safely,” Bernier said.
TELL US: We want to hear from you. Scroll to the bottom of the story to share your bus delay experience.
The Duval County School Board voted on the busing policy change in May. They were originally set to vote on making all students, including elementary schoolers, ineligible for busing if they lived within 2 miles of their schools.
But the board voted 5-2 to change the policy so it would only apply to middle and high schoolers, despite concerns from board members Charlotte Joyce and Lori Hershey about the costs.
According to district staff, cutting off bus transportation for all students who live within 2 miles of their schools would have saved between $500,000 to $1 million, while limiting the change to just middle and high schoolers will save between $250,000 to $500,000.
“There’s no off time for us. We’ve been hiring all summer. We are continuing to hire drivers. I will tell you, we’ll never always have enough drivers. So we have a lot of drivers in training now. We have our routes covered this morning. We’re ready to roll,” John Ziegler, Director of Business Development at Durham School Services, a DCPS school bus vendor, said early Monday morning.
Ziegler said there will be 600 to 700 buses on the road Monday and urged residents to be careful and patient.
“There’s some new schools open in Duval County, so just be patient. We’ll get better each day,” he added.
Bernier also echoed those sentiments.
“I would just ask people to exercise patience. Wait, stay in touch with the apps, and the website, and look for the delays. If you can, stay by your child until the bus picks them up,” Bernier urged.
News4JAX reached out to DCPS to ask about the delays. The school district sent the following reply:
“Similar to many school districts nationwide, we continue to work through persistent driver shortages to serve our students and families. We hope to continue to improve in this area.”
Parents or guardians, did your student experience any bus delays? Share below:
