The St. Johns County School District is heading into a new school year short roughly 70 bus drivers, which means drivers will likely be doing multiple runs on the first day of school.
Superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen said during an interview on The Morning Show that the district operates 325 buses but currently has only about 275 drivers, forcing some drivers to run double — or even triple — pickups each morning and afternoon.
About 40 double runs are currently in place across the district’s roughly 3,600 bus stops. Asplen said families should expect some delays, particularly in the first couple of weeks.
“We have the students scheduled to be picked up at certain times, and then we come back to another neighborhood with the same bus and grab another 50, 70 kids, take them to the school as well, and try to get everybody there before school starts,” Asplen explained.
Tracking your bus, staying patient
To help families keep tabs on their bus, the district offers an app called Chipmunk that allows parents to track routes in real time.
Asplen encouraged families to use it and to remain flexible as routes and pick-up times are adjusted.
“Be patient with that,” he said. “That seems to change somewhat because we do change some of our routes to try to be as efficient as possible once we know what the routines look like over the next couple of weeks.”
Asplen said he expects things to settle down within two to three weeks as drivers and students get into a rhythm.
Recruiting drivers with bonuses
To attract new drivers, the district is offering a $5,000 signing bonus.
Asplen also pointed to a community-approved referendum that has helped the district retain current drivers — though ongoing growth continues to strain capacity.
“We have a great signing bonus of $5,000, and then we have the referendum that the community voted upon to retain our bus drivers,” he said. “We have retained them — we just continue growing.”
Enrollment growth slows
After years of roughly 4% to 4.5% annual growth, St. Johns County is seeing that pace ease. Asplen said growth this past year came in around 1.5% and is expected to hold at a similar rate going forward.
“This past year was right around one and a half percent growth, and it looks like we’re going to be right around that again,” he said. “So it would continue to grow, just not as quickly.”
The district opened two new schools this year — one in Silverleaf and one in Nocatee — both of which were planned based on earlier, faster growth projections.
With the slowdown, Asplen said the district does not anticipate building another K-8 or elementary-middle school in the near term, but a new high school in Silverleaf is in the pipeline.
“We are going to need a high school, and we’re going to build a high school in Silverleaf, and that’ll be open in about three years,” Asplen said.
Safety: E-bikes, deputies, emergency buttons
Asplen said the district is continuing to coordinate closely with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office on school safety. Students who ride e-bikes or traditional bikes are required to dismount before entering school property.
“Our students know that they need to disembark from their bike before they actually enter onto school property,” he said.
Sheriff’s deputies assigned to each school have been educating middle schoolers on e-bike safety, a program that began last year. Asplen praised the partnership with Sheriff Rob Hardwick and the department.
“St. Johns County is really the safest county, I think, in the state,” Asplen said. “Sheriff Hardwick and the Sheriff’s Department does such a great job across the district, but also prioritizing our schools.”
The district also continues using an emergency alert button system introduced last year. Each employee carries a small device that, when clicked a certain number of times, immediately dispatches the Sheriff’s Office to the school.
“With everything raining down on the schools, within a minute it seems like they’re just all over the place everywhere,” Asplen said.
Deputies who are parked to write reports or make stops are also being asked to do so in school parking lots to increase visible presence throughout the day.
Asplen’s message to families
With more than 51,000 students returning to class, Asplen’s top ask for families is simple: patience.
“Just be patient with us on that, especially with our school buses over the next two to three weeks,” he said. “Once everybody gets their routines and we work things out, it becomes more efficient, and then we move forward.”