Las Cruces Public Schools dealing with bus issues amid ABC-7 First Alert

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- Las Cruces Public Schools is dealing with bus issues as it launches its 2023-2024 school year.

A district spokesperson says the extreme heat and driver shortages has caused bus delays for students, who returned to school last week. The district says some routes were delayed up to two hours last week.

The Interim Superintendent met with the bus company the district contracts with to discuss the issues Tuesday.

The company blames retirement and unfilled vacancies for the driver shortage. It is trying to develop new strategies to hire new drivers, but says that could take awhile.

“As a district, we are allocating every resource we have to alleviate the stress of these delays,” Interim Superintendent Sherley O’Brien said. “We send additional staff to schools who have students waiting on busses, we’re looking at providing drinks and snacks to those students and we are communicating with families about what we know up to this point."