MENTOR, Ohio (WJW) – A local school district announced late Thursday night that their Middle School would be closed on Friday because of a large number of absences among bus drivers.

The announcement was published on the Mentor Public Schools‘ social media and district website at about 11 p.m. on Thursday. The statement said Memorial Middle School would be closed and apologized for the late notice.

“We need to make this decision due to a large number of absences in the transportation department causing us to not be able to cover all of our routes. We realize this may cause an inconvenience, but we do not have the staff available to transport all of our students to school and this move keeps all of our elementary schools open,” said the statement.

All other Mentor schools are open as normal, however, the statement said that transportation delays are possible.

“Our dedicated drivers have been working extremely hard to get all of our students to and from school safely each day, as we experience a staffing shortage. As always, student safety is our number one priority,” said the statement.

The district said they are looking to hire.

“If you know of anyone who is interested in working as a bus driver or substitute bus driver, please share information that we are hiring.”

Those interested can find contact information, here.

Staff were told to report to school as normal.