Student athletes in Jeffco Public Schools may need to get out of class earlier or rely on charter buses to get to competitions as the district copes with a driver shortage.
Greg Jackson, executive director of transportation and fleet services, said the district would ask schools to “flex” their times for transporting students to athletic events when it couldn’t hire enough substitute drivers or rearrange stops to cover sports and the normal routes home.
In most cases, the athletes would leave for their competitions around 1 to 1:30 p.m., he said, though they might need to leave earlier for events outside the metro area.
Diana Wilson, Jeffco Public Schools spokeswoman, said the district has asked schools to schedule any extra bus transportation, like taking kids to field trips or sports events, between 8:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to avoid interfering with the usual morning pick-up and afternoon drop-off. If schools can’t arrange their transportation between those hours, they’ll need to look at hiring a charter bus, she said.
An email to parents of athletes at Green Mountain High School said the athletic department would need to use charter buses more frequently than in the past, because school buses would only be available before 12:30 p.m. Schools like Green Mountain, which start dismissing students earlier than other schools, may have to work with earlier cut-offs so the daily bus routes aren’t affected, Wilson said.
About 28% of Jeffco’s driver slots are unfilled, so they’ve had to consolidate routes, Wilson said. The district has dealt with bus shortages at times since 2015.
