NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – A Nassau County parent is raising concerns after his children were left waiting at their bus stop for more than 30 minutes on the first day of school.
James Davis says his kids were at the bus stop and ready to be picked up at their scheduled time of 8:15 a.m. — but the bus never came on time.
“They were at the bus stop prepared to be picked up at 8:15 like they were supposed to be. And then no communication, no bus. 32 minutes later, the bus arrives. But at that point, I’d already picked them up at 8:30,” Davis said.
Davis says he met all the requirements the school asked of his family — and expected the same in return.
“We got them up, we got them dressed, we get them ready. You know, they met all the expectations that the school is asking them to do. And then unfortunately, the school failed to meet the expectations on their end,” he said.
After dropping his children off at school himself, Davis attempted to call the district but says he couldn’t reach anyone until around 10 a.m.
“So they did say that to expect this for the coming days this week. We were also given the reason that it was a new bus driver so we should have some grace,” Davis said.
District responds
Brad Underhill, director of Nassau County Schools Transportation, confirmed that buses were running approximately 25 minutes behind schedule on the first day of school.
“So depending on where they’re at in the morning, so those buses are gonna pick up elementary kids first and then they bring them to the elementary school and unloaded and then come back,” Underhill said.
Underhill acknowledged the delays and says the district expects to work through the issues as the week progresses.
“It’s the first week of school, buses are gonna be running late. Be patient. It’s just so much with trying to get in and out of the traffic at the school till it settles down. That’s the biggest problem — the ones that are on island, we’re gonna go on island, drop the kids off and then come back off island,” Underhill said.
Parent staying positive
Despite his frustration, Davis says he is not looking to assign blame — just hoping for improvement.
“I think that we have to look at it as a learning opportunity. We’re not outraged, we’re not mad. We just have, again, there’s certain levels of expectation that parents and children are held to. So there’s the reciprocation that they’re held to the same standard,” Davis said.
Nassau County Schools says it has enough bus drivers to cover all routes but is actively hiring additional drivers. Interested applicants can apply on the school district’s website.
The parent tracking app for school buses is transitioning from Here Comes the Bus to StopFinder during the 2026-27 school year. StopFinder is a more secure application that works very similarly to HCTB.
You must have a working email in FOCUS on your primary account to use StopFinder. An email will be sent to that address with sign up instructions.
HCTB will continue to work while the district transitions to the new program to give you time to verify and/or update the primary email you have in FOCUS. Please call your child’s school to update your email.
Please check your bus stop times frequently as school starts, as there are many changes daily.
If there is no bus stop information on your FOCUS account transportation page or in the HCTB app, then the district does not have you registered as a bus rider. Submit a bus stop request.
You will need your child’s student ID# and the district’s school code, 76491, to sign up for the StopFinder app.