VALDOSTA — There weren’t enough bus drivers to drive Valdosta City School students to extracurricular events and home in the afternoon, so the school system let them out early two weeks ago.

“Valdosta City Schools will have an early dismissal on Friday, Nov. 16,” said an email sent by Jennifer Steedley, VCS director of public relations. “We have multiple extracurricular buses traveling on Friday and still have a shortage of bus drivers.”

A bus driver shortage has been a semester-long problem for the school system. In a previous Valdosta Daily Times article, the VCS Transportation Department was looking to hire 11 drivers — six full-time drivers and five part-time drivers.

They still need 11 drivers, Ricky Thomas, director of transportation, said this week.

“Since our last interview, we’ve had two come on board, but then we lost two drivers due to relocation,” Thomas said. “Then we have two or three that will hopefully complete the training in mid to late December.”

The biggest hurdle the transportation department has endured this semester is the amount of time it takes to do background checks and train future drivers. This usually takes about six weeks or more, Thomas said.

Now, the department is trying to streamline the application process.

The testing part of the process used to be administered by Lowndes County Schools. In a couple of months, it will be done in-house.

“Our goal is to get it down to four weeks,” Thomas said. “It’s to streamline our training process.”

Another issue that has also persisted this semester has been late buses.

Thomas said some of his drivers, including himself, have had to pick up more than one route in the morning and afternoon.

It has caused phone calls from parents worried their children missed the bus. That will no longer be the issue with the app “Here Comes the Bus.”

“We’ll be able to push out notifications to the parents and students who have downloaded the app that the buses are running late, and that will eliminate calls to the school system and schools,” Thomas said.

They’re also setting up routing software that will serve as a GPS for bus drivers. It will work with the app.

The transportation department expects to have the app and routing software running by January, and Thomas said he hopes the shortage is solved during spring semester.

“I want to thank those who have been patient and understanding,” Thomas said. “Our vow is to improve in areas of safety, professionalism, consistency, efficiency and communication.”

Katelyn Umholtz is a reporter with the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be contacted at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256.