ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- Parents who were told two weeks before the start of school that their kid wouldn't have bus service have said kids who live further from school are being hurt the most, and that the schools took the easy way out by giving bus service to kids who live closer.

"Our kids are going to be the ones to suffer because they can't get to school,” a mom from the Samuel Miller district said.

Right now, 10 bus routes are open, and almost 1,000 students won't have bus service on the first day of school.

Families who live further away from the schools seem to be the most vocal about their child's bus route being canceled.

"It honestly makes more sense because it's easier to get kids to school faster that way. Why lie to us? Just tell us that you cut the people that were further than the circle that you drew around the school,” Kellie Washington, a parent, said.

Keira Sullivan, whose son goes to Henley Middle School, said she's worried about gas money and time.

"If I take my son to school and pick him up every day for a month it'll cost me $300. In the mornings with the traffic circle and the drop off it'll take me at least 90 minutes,” she said.

She said the rural students are already disadvantaged.

"The kids who are struggling with slower Internet, they are already disadvantaged when it comes to classwork. They're socially isolated," she said.

At Thursday's school board meeting, parents offered ideas like using vans to take smaller groups to school or administrators training to get a CDL. 

District Spokesperson Phil Giaramita said they want to get as many kids to school as possible. He said the alternative, which is what they did last year, was worse.

"We continued to provide service on all routes, but when we had open routes without a bus driver, a driver from the next would complete their route then come back and pick up kids on the open route. So, the result of that was those kids were getting to school an hour late or two hours late," he said.  

Giaramita said he knows two weeks’ notice was not ideal, but mapping 500 routes and 3,500 stops takes time.

The schools have hired four more drivers, and will be adjusting routes as soon as that training is completed. This will be a fluid situation for the next several weeks.