HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — In Hillsborough County, where the third largest school district in the state is kicking off classes on Thursday, it’s not just the first day for students and teachers, but also Interim Superintendent Van Ayres’ first day of school under his new role.

Ayres was selected as interim superintendent after Addison Davis unexpectedly resigned in June.

Ayres discussed some big goals in store for this school year.

“Positive school culture is about building relationships on the foundations of trust, openness and respect, and through all of that, all that culture, we create a culture for learning. So that way we aspire to be, and become, one of the top achieving school districts in this nation,” said Ayres.

While Ayres is new to the interim superintendent role, he has worked in the district for 27 years. He says he really understands it and plans to take everything they have built upon and move forward with his goal set at becoming one of the top districts in the country.

He says he is focused on academics, but there are some challenges given the teacher and bus driver shortages being experienced nationwide.

Right now, there are 200 bus driver vacancies and 450 teacher vacancies, but the district is working hard to fill those positions. Ayres asked parents to be patient with buses for the first few days of school, as many drivers will be making double runs to account for the vacancies.

Ayres says another area of focus is attendance.

“Attendance is something we’re really focusing on…our teachers can’t do their job if our students aren’t in the classroom,” he said.