Hillsborough bus driver shortage hits school routes

Gloria Kelly doesn't like seeing her grandson stranded at the bus stop as school is about to start.

And she is exasperated when he doesn't get home until an hour after school because of problems with the bus.

Emmanuel Mathieu, a third-grader at Lewis Elementary in Temple Terrace, is supposed to board Bus No. 3530 at 7:18 a.m., Kelly said.

On a chilly Monday morning, he was still there after 8. And Tuesday morning, when Kelly took him to school, she noticed other kids still at the bus stop a few minutes before 8.

School begins at 8.

"Kids are missing breakfast," Kelly said. "I'm concerned about all of those kids out there standing by themselves. There are pedophiles out there."

She wasn't happy with the answers she got from the school or the school district.

Gayla Norris, an area supervisor for transportation, said there is a simple explanation for the problems. The regular bus driver has a sick relative and had to go out of state. Until the district finds a substitute, which is always a challenge, another bus driver has to cover two different routes.

"It could be two weeks; it could be longer," Norris said. "When will I get a sub? I really don't know."

Hillsborough County has faced a shortage of bus drivers before.

"We may gain two and lose three," Norris said. "It's a high-turnover job."

The district hired 75 drivers in the first six weeks of the new school year, according to payroll records. The district employs a total of 1,075 people as school bus drivers, the records show.

Kelly said that on Monday her grandson was still at school at 1:45 p.m., 30 minutes after school was dismissed.

She complained to officials at the school, located at 6700 Whiteway Drive south of Fowler Avenue and west of Interstate 75, that someone should let parents know what is happening.

"They told me they don't have time to call the parents and let them know what is going on," the grandmother said.

Norris said the school's administration supervises the children after school until they can be picked up. She added that it was the parents' responsibility to supervise them in the morning until they board the bus.

"We have no control at bus stops. We encourage every parent to be there and monitor them," Norris said. "We take responsibility for that child the minute he steps on that bus. But the parent is liable for that child at the bus stop. These parents need to understand that."

Kelly said that can't always happen.

"Some parents have to go to work," she said. "The parents feel like they don't have a voice because nothing is being done."

School officials frequently struggle to find another driver when a bus breaks down or a personnel matter comes up, said John Franklin, general manager of transportation for the district.

"We would have liked to have a fix on it by now," he said. "But there isn't always an extra spare driver to carry the run."