An unusually high number of bus driver absences Friday led to some Lincoln Public Schools students up to two hours late to school.
Sixteen bus drivers called in sick Friday morning, impacting eight bus routes and 75 students, according to district officials.
For the afternoon bus runs, LPS called in more drivers from First Student, the Omaha company with which the district contracts, and routes ran normally, said Liz Standish, associate superintendent for business affairs.
In the morning, when LPS officials realized dispatchers wouldn't be able to rearrange assignments to cover all the routes, they sent messages to families. And in many cases, the families arranged to take their students to school, Standish said.
Some bus routes had shorter delays, but others ran 1½ to two hours late, she said.
"We had an unusual number of bus drivers who are ill today, but we are doing our best to cover all bus routes in a timely fashion," LPS said in a message to parents.
They asked regular drivers to drive additional routes to make up for the missing drivers.
Standish said it's not unusual to have eight drivers call in sick on any given day. On Friday, 16 were absent. The district employs 126 drivers and contracts with another 12 to drive 128 LPS buses and six Student First buses. They have two substitute drivers available each day.
LPS has been combating a driver shortage for a number of years, although bonuses offered this fall have cut the shortage from about 20 to two drivers, Standish said.
About 4,000 students ride buses, including high school students who attend The Career Academy, students who live more than four miles from their assigned school and special education students.
Standish said she doesn't know whether the driver illnesses were related to influenza, but noted that the number of student absences are about normal for this time of year.
