Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

The ongoing shortage of school bus drivers is forcing many districts to do what's called "double-run" routes, but that's no longer working for Hartland Consolidated Schools.

Superintendent Chuck Hughes says some students are missing their first hour class. He told parents the district will now "pause" some routes for a week at a time.

"What it means is that we would schedule out in a seven-week cycle, five buses that won't run for any given week," he told WHMI News. "What we'll try to do is make sure we give parents at least a two-week notice that this is coming and these are the routes that won't be run."

Hughes says parents would be required to somehow figure out how to get their child to school and back on those days. The district is exploring all options to assist.

"So if my bus is not running next week, could I schedule my child to be dropped off early at Latchkey, at a cost of course, but dropped off so that I have a way to get my child to school."

"We are looking at how could we be flexible with Latchkey, instead of signing up for a long-term period of time, a short period of time to help parents," Hughes added.

Some parents have asked about privatizing the district's bus system.

"We have not looked at private transportation for routes we cannot run," says Hughes. "But we have been dabbling in private transportation for after-school activities, because all of our drivers have to be prioritized on routes to-and-from school, so we can't get kids to activities."

Hughes says HCS has been running charter buses to make that happen.

In the meantime, the district is offering $2,000 signing bonuses to attract qualified school bus drivers. Full and part-time positions pay around $20.37 an hour.

Contact Hartland Consolidated Schools' transportation department for more information at (810) 626-2175.