Joplin bus driver shortage and system failure left parents worried

JOPLIN, Mo. — It’s been a rocky start to the school year for Joplin school busses — dealing with a shortage of drivers and software issues. Some parents reported extended delays Friday, with kids not dropped off until much later than expected. The lack of bus drivers is forcing the district to work double routes, which means some drop-offs are late. On top of that, the dialing software which notifies parents when issues arise had issues of its own.

“Our dialer system, for whatever reason – because we updated and it kicked, messed up our dialer system to the point it wasn’t sending out dialers to the parents so they could be notified that their students were going to be late,” said Pullum Jr, Asst. Dir Transportation.

The fix is underway for that glitch — and district officials hope to hire three or four more drivers this week to fill out the double route system. But they add, another dozen or so would allow them to return to single routes for each bus.

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