Lee County School District struggling to get kids to school

The surge in COVID-19 cases is impacting the way kids get to school. Lee County schools are seeing an increase in bus driver call-outs this week because those drivers are sick.

Parents and grandparents are worried because the bus is the only way to get their kids and grandkids to school for many of them.

When you can’t hire new bus drivers, you need to keep the ones you have, but The School District of Lee County is struggling to do even that. The number of school bus drivers is at an all-time low.

Lee County Schools Spokesman Rob Spicker said, “we had probably most of the first semester about 50-60 open positions, so here we start the second semester with 90 open positions. A number of drivers did not come back after the Christmas break.”

The ones who did return to their routes are getting sick.

“On Monday we had 128 drivers and attendants that called out sick, and on Tuesday we had 126 drivers and attendants call out sick, so that is twice, a little more than twice the average daily absence rate, so that has severely impacted the way we are able to transport children to and from school,” said Spicker.

Verleen Thompson is feeling those impacts firsthand. Her grandson has special needs and rides a bus with an attendant to school every day.

Thompson said that the bus hadn’t shown up the last two mornings. “I’m not angry at them because I understand the COVID and, you know, I’m not gonna be mad at nobody because I know COVID, that’s bad, but I can’t afford for him to stay home either, because he needs to be face to face in school.”

The Lee County School District agrees. Spicker said staff is working around the clock to make sure kids still have a ride. “As long as we are this short of drivers, the bus will be there. It just may be really late.”

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