Albemarle principal and teacher transporting students as bus driver shortage drags on

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - The principal and a teacher at Lakeside Middle School are teaming up to help get students to and from school as the shortage of bus driver continues to affect Albemarle County.

“We had 64 students impacted by this,” Principal Michael Craddock said Wednesday, August 30. “To be able to tell those 64 students, ‘We’ve got you, we’ll come get you and get you back to school,’ is a good feeling.”

Craddock says they got to work on trying to help families after the school learned it had an open route. The principal drops off students in the afternoon, while teacher Jeff Matriccino picks them up in the morning.

“The whole route is only about an hour and 10 minutes total,” the 7th grade teacher said. “So I can start by like 7:45 a.m., and the school day starts at 9 a.m.”

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