Oswego School District delays start of Early Childhood classes due to school bus driver shortage

Oswego School District 308 has delayed the start of its Early Childhood classes until next week citing a shortage of school bus drivers to transport students to classes.

In a letter posted on the district’s website, John Petzke, the district’s chief financial officer, announced Early Childhood classes will not begin until Monday, Aug. 30.

“The only exception is the deaf and hard of hearing class which will begin as planned,” Petzke wrote.

The announcement affects Early Childhood classes at Brokaw Early Learning Center at 1000 Fifth Street, Oswego; Prairie Point Elementary School, 3650 Grove Road, Oswego; Wolf’s Crossing Elementary School, 3015 South Eola Road, Aurora; and Long Beach, 67 Long Beach Road, Boulder Hill.

Petzke noted SD308, like school districts across the nation, is currently facing a shortage of bus drivers.

He wrote, “We found out shortly before school was about to start that one of our bus service providers was not able to cover their routes. In response, our transportation department worked around the clock to collapse routes and do their best to make sure we had transportation for the first day of school on Aug. 18. The only way to accomplish this was by using drivers assigned to the Early Childhood route. It was a very difficult decision, and many solutions were explored, but unfortunately there just aren’t enough bus drivers to run the existing routes once Brokaw’s routes are added.”

Petzke continued, “We will use the next five school days to revise routes again. We intend to make up these five lost days throughout the school year. Calendar changes will be shared in the next few weeks. We truly apologize for this inconvenience and look forward to beginning our students’ early childhood experience on Aug. 30.”