OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Nearly every school district is searching for custodians, food-service staff members and bus drivers, according to the Florida Education Association. 

On Tuesday, the School District of Osceola County held a job fair to try to quickly hire bus drivers and attendants, hoping to draw in community members interested in helping students succeed by getting to and from school. The event was  at the district's transportation facility at 401 Simpson Rd. in Kissimmee.

District leaders say students are left waiting for their ride to school for up to an hour at times. 

Every day, the Osceola County school district shuttles 26,000 students to and from class, and drivers for 243 bus routes need to be filled constantly.

The district is down 36 drivers, but that number is often higher when drivers are out sick or out with COVID-19, according to Assistant Direcor of Bus Transportation Randy Wheeler. That leaves administrators scrambling to combine routes to get students to school. 

“They’re going to pick up additional students and pretty much fill the bus up to its maximum capacity and so it makes for a long day and a difficult time for the employees, and the delays cause a hardship for the students and their parents because now, we can’t really forecast how late each individual bus route will be,” Wheeler said. 

Carla Geigel has been a bus driver with the district for nine years. Geigel said she loves the job and the time spent with kids but said it’s really hard to get to everyone right now with such limited staffing.

“It’s really heart-wrenching for me as a person who has been with the district for nine years to see these students waiting so long," Geigel said. "And it’s not the fault of the district transportation itself. It’s the fact that we need more help from our community of individuals reaching out. This way, we can fill these bus routes.” 

The extra strain is causing burnout with the drivers they do have, and district officials seek to change that, Wheeler said.