School bus driver walkout expected to continue Monday, Wake warns parents
Check here for story updates on Monday.
The Wake County school system is urging families to prepare to provide their own transportation on Monday due to bus drivers continuing their protest over working conditions.
In an email sent Sunday afternoon, the district said it wanted to make parents “aware that bus driver absences could disrupt transportation services on Monday.” Wake said that the affected areas will most likely be the routes that did not run Friday.
“If possible, parents should arrange their own transportation for their students if their bus route is affected,” the district said. “We apologize for the inconvenience. Based upon current information, we do not expect the absences to continue beyond Monday.”
Wake said families who use bus service can visit the bus updates page to check the status of their child’s bus beginning at approximately 6:15 a.m.
The warning came after some Wake County school bus drivers didn’t show up for work on Friday, which forced some parents to handle the transportation of their children to and from classes. While the majority of drivers worked Friday, Wake is so short-staffed that the absences threw off bus service.
Monday could see a repeat of Friday’s long carpool lines at schools after the district asked families to arrange their own transportation due to the larger-than-normal number of driver absences.
Wake, like school districts across the nation, is facing a shortage of school bus drivers. That’s causing the remaining drivers to do more work. It’s why Wake Superintendent Cathy Moore and school board Chairman Keith Sutton say the drivers’ actions should be viewed with sympathy.
“The pay and salary structure for the work we do is not adequate,” Moore and Sutton wrote in an email sent Friday to school employees. “Today our bus drivers shone a harsh light on this reality. Many of them are expected to drive up to six routes a day — twice the amount considered normal — with no additional pay.
“Similar stories can be told about our safety assistants, Child Nutrition Staff, mechanics, custodians, instructional assistants and all support staff.”
The state funds the base salaries of school employees with districts often supplementing the pay. In 2020, Wake raised the minimum starting salary for drivers to $15 an hour but the number of vacant positions has continued to rise.
Wake’s bus driver vacancy rate was 17% in September.
School leaders are hoping drivers will hold off on future walkouts because the school board will vote Tuesday on a plan to give a $1,250 bonus to all full-time employees, including bus drivers. The board will also vote Tuesday on raises for teachers and raising the minimum salary of support staff to $13 an hour.
Parents put on notice
Wake had put parents on notice in a Friday afternoon email warning that “at this time, bus service for Monday is also uncertain and we ask that families plan with this understanding.”
The PTA at Fuller Elementary School in Raleigh put out its own warning to families on Sunday morning.
“Attention: We just heard we should NOT assume buses are running tomorrow,” the Fuller PTA tweeted. “Heard this from a reliable source. Please plan to make other arrangements to/from school just in case you need them.”
The news of more driver absences drew a range of parental reactions on social media as working parents struggled to find options for Monday.
“Got 3 kids at 3 different schools,” David Bader tweeted at Wake on Sunday afternoon. “And both parents work. Any suggestions???”
Some parents suggested turning Monday into a remote learning day. But that option could leave some students home alone.
This story was originally published October 31, 2021 at 4:19 PM with the headline "School bus driver walkout expected to continue Monday, Wake warns parents."
