Bullitt County Schools addressing bus driver shortage ahead of school year

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Bullitt County Schools is working to add more bus drivers ahead of the start of school.

Some families feel stranded by Bullitt County Schools. One North Bullitt parent says her child hasn't had a bus route since March of last year. The parent, who wants to remain anonymous, said that before her child's route was canceled all together, there were more than 40 days that the bus never came.

"Usually, I have to leave work between 1 and 1:30 p.m. to be here by 2 p.m., so it is really difficult," the parent said.

Bullitt County Schools Superintendent Jesse Bacon said staffing has been a nationwide issue. The school district currently has about 10 drivers in training and three routes left that need drivers.

"Unfortunately, when we don't have sub situations, and we have outages, and we have to communicate with those parents that they won't get transportation services for that day, so we try to do that as early as we possibly can," Bacon said.

Bacon hopes the drivers in training will be able to fill the remaining routes and serve as substitutes by the time school starts. The district is also implementing new technology that will allow parents to track their child's route in real time.

The school district will also use that program to communicate with parents when their child's route has been canceled.