CARTERET COUNTY -- One hundred four yellow school buses cover Carteret County, and just how many substitute bus drivers do they have? That answer is 10.
"Before the cut of teacher assistants we had a larger pool of substitute bus drivers where we were able to have at least fill-in people at the schools, but now that they cut the TAs back. We basically scrape by to fill all our buses," said Lloyd Willis, Carteret County Schools transportation director.
"Our TAs are our bus drivers, so when funding for TAs get cut, so do our bus drivers. Three or four years ago this was not a problem," said Erin Watts, assistant principal at Bogue Sound Elementary.
Watts oversees bus drivers and she says sometimes it takes all day just to find one sub.
"When I know when one of my TAs are going to be out as early as possible, I start calling them and saying, 'Are you available to drive this route on this day?' If they are not available then I can go to the next person on the list."
For a lot of the schools in Carteret County, they do not have any substitutes which means sometimes the school bus routes have to be rearranged which could lead to students getting to school late or sometimes leaving late in the afternoon.
"Most stressful part is the kids because we always want the kids to be safe. Whenever you're spreading things out that thin, mistakes happen. Kids get confused, kids get on the wrong bus. You know they get nervous and get off the wrong bus stop," said Watts.
It's a big challenge for staff members as well as trying to recruit people for the job.
"Either that it's not enough hours to be worthwhile or they need full time employment."
But just like a teacher or principal, having a substitute school bus driver is crucial.
"It's just not as safe as it can be, so having regular substitutes is vitally important," said Watts.
If you are interested in becoming a substitute school bus driver for Carteret County Schools, click here.