At Dr. Kenneth Spells' Listening Tour at Clay High School on Thursday night, the new superintendent addressed the ongoing transportation issues in the district.

ABC 57 News sat down with Dr. Spells one-on-one for an update on the progress.

“It’s getting much better, we are working hard to address the situation,” said Dr. Spells.

The transportation department hired five new drivers over the last two weeks.

“As we get more drivers, it’s a simple solution we just have to get more drivers,” said Dr. Spells.

Before school began, the transportation department told me all routes were covered. Since then the department has lost several drivers.

Because of the shortage, every substitute is used daily. If anyone calls out, a route will be without a driver so drivers are forced to double up on routes and kids get home late.

For the first week of school, the most buses in one day that doubled up on routes was ten. Second week, nine buses in one day. The third week saw the most buses doubled up on routes, with twelve.

“It’s improving each day. We’re getting more drivers trained; again we are waiting on the background checks and the training,” said Dr. Spells.

Dr. Spells says he can’t speculate as to when things will run exactly as they should.

In the meantime he’s working on communication with parents by hiring two new transportation dispatchers.