The first day of school was longer for some students in Duval County Monday due to rampant bus delays.
The district's website warned of delays up to 90 minutes on certain bus routes Monday afternoon due in part to a shortage of drivers.
Ashley Guillaume said her daughter was supposed to have her first day of seventh grade Monday, but she never ended up going to school.
"I got a phone call about 10:30 this morning and she said, 'Mom the bus came and she told us we couldn't get on the bus because she was too full and the other bus driver quit, so she didn't know how we were going to get to school,'" Guillaume said.
She said her daughter usually catches the bus from their stop on the Southside around 8:45 a.m. It's one of two buses that picks up students in her neighborhood. By 11 a.m., she said the second bus still wasn't there.
"I got a hold of dispatch and dispatch then told me that whoever is over transportation, whoever makes those decisions, canceled buses, certain routes, and did not let dispatch know so that they knew to send somebody else out," Guillaume said.
She told her daughter to go home. Her daughter's friend told her the bus eventually came around 11:15 a.m., two and a half hours late.
"It obviously was disheartening for me because I'm at work and I can't just drop what I'm doing and pick her up and rectify the situation myself, and I was just kind of upset that there was such a miscommunication within those departments that children are left on the side of the road just waiting for a bus stop and parents had no idea," she said.
Guillaume said no one from the district called her or her daughter about the delay.
"I just don't want anything to happen to our babies," she said.
"The gentleman at dispatch said they had been getting a lot of calls because of this and that it has been noted and that tomorrow everything was going to be fine and to just send our children to the bus stop like usual," Guillaume said.
At one point Monday morning, there were more than 130 buses delayed from 15 minutes up to an hour. Monday afternoon, those delays crept up as high as 90 minutes, including for some elementary school students.
As for Guillaume's daughter, she said she'll try again Tuesday for her second first day of school.
"She’s disappointed," Guillaume said. "She was scared she was going to be in trouble. She doesn’t want the unexcused absence. She’s an overachiever, so she’s worried it’s all going to come falling back on her, but I assured her it won’t ."
A district official said they're specifically looking into this delay. Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene said Monday night there will be some hiccups with bus routes at the start of the school year, and said the district is working with the bus contractors to address those issues.
Greene also said they're working to hire more than 100 bus drivers. Right now according to district officials, there are 735 buses and 662 bus drivers for about 120,000 students.