BALTIMORE — Approximately 30 Baltimore City school bus drivers called out Monday, leaving 300 students stranded on their first day of class.
According to Baltimore City Schools, the drivers include contractors and some internal employees.
"We apologize for the challenges this unexpected call out caused our students and families, especially on the first day back in classrooms," the school system said in a statement. "We are working closely with the contracting companies and our internal drivers to be fully staffed tomorrow. We thank them for their patience."
SEE ALSO: Thousands of students head back to school Monday
Schools CEO Sonja Santelises said a shortage of bus drivers is a nationwide problem, not just a city one.
“The area where we’re seeing some challenges, which is true across the country is with bus drivers. That remains a challenge for us. Our families, we’ve been contacting them since last week to give them a heads up on some routes that we might have some challenges with but like the rest of the country and state," said Santelises.
She added the city is looking for more drivers and are willing to provide training.
"Bus drivers are still needed and if anybody’s interested they should give us a call because we’re actually training doing some of our own training now as well.”
