HAZELWOOD, Mo. — Families in the Hazelwood School District will notice changes to dozens of bus routes starting Wednesday.
The district said it's been impacted by what it calls an unprecedented nationwide bus driver shortage. Currently the district has 78 drivers and is looking to hire 20 additional drivers.
To provide shorter and more consistent wait times for families, Hazelwood spent last week consolidating and revising bus routes.
Anthony Kiekow, director of communications for Hazelwood, said 46 of the 96 routes are impacted by the revisions. He said only a few routes were consolidated.
Kiekow said the changes will impact pick-up and drop-off times for the vast majority of students. Parents can log onto the district's parent portal to learn more about the route changes.
The memo to families reminding them of the route revisions is not the first letter Hazelwood has sent to parents regarding bus issues. At the beginning of the school year, it asked for patience and warned of delays due to construction and COVID-19 protocols.
Last spring, another note was sent to parents stating some bus routes were experiencing significant delays.
Hazelwood joins a growing list of local districts feeling the pain from a lack of bus drivers. At the beginning of the school year, Rockwood said it was down 43 drivers. It cut several routes and stopped offering bus service to students who live within a mile from school.
Also at the start of the school year, Granite City could only offer bus service to elementary and special education students.