LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After nearly 150 bus drivers called out sick Monday, canceling more than 100 routes, thousands of Jefferson County Public Schools students didn't go to school.

The district said attendance numbers show around a quarter of students were absent. That's 25,000 students, and double the amount of absences last Monday when drivers weren't calling out. 

The route cancellations had many parents scrambling to figure out how to get their children home from school in the afternoon as routes were canceled.

"There will also be cancellations on the way home from school as well and there will be delays on the way home today," said JCPS Chief Communications Officer Carolyn Callahan Monday morning.

Callahan said bus drivers drive different students in the morning than they do in the afternoon. 

"So that means that there will be students who didn't have a ride to school [who] might have a ride home from school, but those who had a ride to school might not have a ride home, because bus drivers are driving different students in the morning and the afternoon," she said.

The call-out by drivers is part of an organized effort to take a stand against what many drivers said is a lack of student discipline and long bus routes. 

"I guess it finally reached a boiling point on their part," John Stovall, Teamsters Local 783 President, said.

While an inconvenience, parents like Berkley Collins supports the drivers' decision.

"You can't work like that day in and day out, so yes, I'm all for them standing up for themselves," Collins said. "It makes me feel for the drivers. I feel terrible for them and awful for the kids who are trying to do right but dealing with this."

Around 90 drivers called out Friday. JCPS notified parents and families Sunday night about a large number of drivers calling out for Monday.

"There was no reason to take her [my daughter] because she's not getting home," Collins said. 

Several more drivers called out Monday morning, impacting transportation capabilities for the district.  

"Some people are saying, 'Why couldn't you just tell us last night all of the routes that were going to be canceled?' There was absolutely no way to do that," Callahan said. "When you don't know which bus driver is calling out, you don't know which route to cancel. So we had to wait until this morning when all of those came in and then we had to push out that information to families to let them know that those routes, unfortunately, did not have a driver to cover them." 

As of 6:30 a.m. Monday, 143 JCPS bus drivers in Louisville had called out, causing 101 of the district's 568 routes to be canceled. 

JCPS officials sent a list of routes Monday morning with the canceled routes -- that's nearly 18 percent of the district's 568 routes. Initially, less than 50 routes were canceled as of Sunday night. 

"This impacts the entire day. These cancellations are spread throughout the district," said Callahan.

She said while a majority of bus drivers did still show up Monday — more than 400 drivers — there were simply not enough people to cover all the routes, forcing cancelations. 

"This is the first time we have ever had to cancel bus routes. Typically we delay them. We could not absorb all of this," Callahan said.

Callahan said staff will be staying at schools and calling families due to the afternoon route cancelations. 

"Parents, you know, this is an unfortunate situation, and parents are going to have to find a way to pick their children up from school if that is the case. Our hands our tied. If we do not have the drivers to drive the buses, we cannot transport kids," Callahan said.

JCPS originally had no school scheduled for Monday, but classes were rescheduled as a make-up day after JCPS canceled classes at the start of the school year due to transportation issues during week one.

The school district has already faced consistent driver shortages this school year, sometimes seeing delays of three to four hours getting kids to class. 

In an update Monday evening, Callahan said all JCPS buses were clear at 7:10 p.m. Monday. 

Last week, JCPS said the district is listening to complaints from drivers. A big change in the works deals with the referral process when students misbehave on buses. That process will change from a paper system to an electronic one, sharing information in real-time.

"Dr. Fulk told bus drivers students would be suspended off the bus for inappropriate behavior," Stovall said. "Anywhere from 10 days or for the whole school year."

In the meantime, the bus union leader is asking parents to be part of the solution.

"Talk to your kids," he said. "Tell them how to act on a bus."

Callahan said she also knows some drivers have complained about long routes. She said the district is working to reduce those routes and make changes in the transportation system. 

"These are not things that can be done overnight, these are not things that can be done just in the school year. This is going to take time," she said.

Like many school districts across the country, JCPS is dealing with a bus driver shortage, having to cut routes for a district that serves 65,000 bused students.

Callahan stressed that while more than 140 drivers called out Monday, a majority still showed up. 

"This is a group of bus drivers," she said. "This is not all of our bus drivers. We have more than 400 bus drivers who are at work today."

JCPS officials said absences will be excused for students who missed school Monday because their bus route was canceled. 

Stovall said driver call outs of this magnitude are not expected for Wednesday. 

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