Duval County

Duval County schools still experiencing bus delays after first day of school

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Not knowing where your child is can be a scary situation.

That was what some parents in Duval County experienced recently when their kids went off to school and the school bus was late.

Some delays resulted in kids waiting outside for hours at bus stops.

MORE: Is your student’s bus delayed? Duval County Schools created a web page so you can check

Amanda Rosado told Action News Jax she’s frustrated.

Because of bus delays in Duval County, her daughter’s first day back at Mandarin Oaks Elementary school didn’t run as smoothly.

“She was over an hour late on the first day of school,” Rosado said.

She tried calling Durham School Services, the bus company in charge, but couldn’t reach anyone.

STORY: New COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment units deployed in Jacksonville

Rosado said that could be scary for a lot of parents.

“It is in the back of my mind what happen, is there something going on that I should know about and for me to not be able to get through to anyone like you can’t call anyone and they’re not calling you so it’s really the perfect storm for worry,” Rosado said.

Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene sent out an e-mail and voice mail to parents on Wednesday, letting them know the district was working with contractors to try and fix the problem.

In a statement, Dr. Greene said: “We are aware that the bus transportation for many of our students has not met your expectations or mine. While about 97 percent of routes are running without an issue, we realize this is an area where we need better performance.”

In response to all the delays, DCPS released a resource for parents to track delays that are longer than 30 minutes.

You can see the bus route and the school posted online.

STORY: Assistant principal at Arlington Middle School dies unexpectedly, school officials say

On Thursday morning, we counted over two dozen buses that were late. Rosado said not every school was listed on the online resource.

“My daughter’s school isn’t listed and it just said to expect be over 30 minutes late and there’s no updated time,” she said.

Duval County Public Schools posted on its website that buses are often delayed by up to 30 minutes until drivers become familiar with their routes and traffic normalizes.

Action News Jax reached out to the district this morning to see if they could tell us if these delays have anything to do with a bus driver shortage.

We’re still waiting to hear back.