School bus company cancels St. Cloud routes Thursday morning
(Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (FOX 9) - The St. Cloud Area School District scrambled to find new school bus drivers on Thursday morning after Palmer Bus Company reported having no drivers available.
What we know
A total of 30 routes, 16 for elementary schools and 14 for secondary schools, were canceled Thursday morning because of a lack of available drivers for Palmer Bus Company, according to officials with ISD (Independent School District) 742.
Superintendent Laurie Putnam said the district was notified of the canceled routes at 6:45 a.m. Elementary school classes start at 7:30 a.m., while secondary school classes start at 8:30 a.m.
About 1,000 students out of the approximately 10,000 who attend class at ISD 742 were impacted by the canceled routes. They were given excused tardies and classes were held as scheduled.
Putnam said she "could not speak to the exact issue happening with Palmer Bus Company" but thanked the other bus companies that were able to help on short notice. The bus companies that filled in for the morning routes were Spanier, Voigt and Trobec.
The school district later announced that Palmer Bus Company would run the end-of-day routes as scheduled.
What we don't know
FOX 9 reached out to Palmer Bus Company for comment.