Wake schools warn families to prepare for possible bus driver strike Friday

The Wake County school system is urging parents to “prepare backup transportation plans” in case their children’s bus route is impacted by a potential bus driver walkout on Friday.

In an email Thursday to families, Wake said that there may be more bus drivers absent than normal Friday because of a protest over poor working conditions. Wake urged families to check the district’s Bus Updates page in the morning and afternoon to get information about their child’s specific bus route.

Wake also encouraged families to download the Here Comes the Bus phone app for information about the location of their child’s bus.

“We appreciate this information is being sent late and apologize for the inconvenience,” the district said in its alert. “However, some drivers have warned the district of disruptions tomorrow to bring attention to working conditions and wages.

“While we sympathize with these concerns and continue to advocate for additional state and local funding, we also want you to be aware should an unexpected shortage affect your child.

Warnings about possible delays Friday

Wake County, like other school districts around the nation, is dealing with a major shortage of school bus drivers that’s forced drivers to do extra duty. Warnings have gone on out on parent groups on social media that they should prepare for delays having their children get home from school Friday.

Zac Campbell, a Wake County school bus driver, said in an interview Thursday he’s been approached to join in the walkout. But Campbell, who has publicly spoken out about the driver shortage, said he’s not planning to participate in what he called an unorganized event that could draw as many as 100 drivers.

“I don’t support them,” Campbell said. “I wish that I could, but everything they’re doing is wild.”

It’s unclear who is organizing the protest. Kristin Beller, president of Wake NCAE, did not directly answer questions Thursday about what role the group may have played in the potential walkout.

“We can understand how people are feeling those very real material limitations in not wanting to wait any longer for increases,” Beller said in an interview. “We’re not just talking this year, but years compounded without increases to their pay.”

More asked of drivers due to shortage

As of September, Wake had a 17% vacancy rate among school bus drivers with 139 vacant positions. The shortage forced Wake to redraw bus routes, causing it to take longer getting students to and from school.

The shortages of bus drivers and other positions is part of the reason why Wake and other school systems have added “wellness days” in November where they’ve canceled classes.

The lack of drivers has resulted in the majority of Wake’s bus routes becoming “double runs,” in which drivers have to build in extra time to pick up and drop off two different groups of students at each school.

The delays have also caused teachers to stay on campus longer to supervise students. Any protest on Friday would mean teachers stay even longer until students leave campus.

Wake’s remaining 688 drivers have gone from serving two schools a day to five or six but aren’t getting more pay for the additional routes. Drivers say they’ve had to skip bathroom breaks to try to get their runs done.

Compounding the issue is low pay in which the state pays school bus drivers $12.75 an hour. Some school districts supplement the pay, with Wake raising the starting salary to $15 an hour.

Wake school board members are talking about using federal COVID relief dollars to provide raises to bus drivers and other school employees. In an email Thursday to district staff, Wake said the school board will discuss and vote Tuesday on providing raises and bonuses to employees.

Campbell said some bus drivers plan to meet with school board members to discuss concerns such as low pay, student discipline issues on buses and the bus routing system.

Similar working conditions in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system caused some bus drivers to threaten to strike earlier this month. But a walkout was averted after school officials met with drivers, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.

“There’s a lot of things that need to be done and a lot of strategies that need to be discussed before there can be a strike,” Campbell said.