Charlottesville Schools seeking bus drivers

Some students in the Charlottesville City Schools are tardy for their classes due in part to a shortage of seven school bus drivers. As a result, the division issued a call for applications Monday to get more busses on the road.

In addition to the driver shortage, Assistant Superintendent Jim Henderson said other factors for late arrivals include heavy traffic and slow unload times for the division’s youngest students—a yearly issue, Henderson said, that corrects itself within the first few weeks.

This year Charlottesville shifted its school start times to see elementary school start before middle school.

“The new start times are not affecting the bus runs,” Superintendent Rosa Atkins said. “These other issues and circumstances are the elements which are causing our buses to be delayed.”

Schools officials said that any absences resulting from a late bus have been marked excused.

“We’re going to work hard to see how we can get our bus drivers hired and make sure that we diminish these delays,” Atkins added.

Drivers work 20-29 hours per week and qualify for partial benefits. The schedule is 6:45-9:15 a.m., and 2-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The division prefers individuals who hold a commercial driver’s license or permit, but drivers with safe driving records will also be considered.

For more information see the job listings at , or visit the new Downtown Job Center located on the lower level of the downtown branch of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library.