Rockford, Illinois school bus drivers have never gone on strike in the union’s 31-year history, but union members and leaders say they’re closer than they’ve ever been, and the outlook for resolution is grim.
Roughly 100 Rockford Public Schools bus drivers took the streets chanting “no green, no yellow” as a warning to northern Illinois district officials that a strike is on the horizon if contract negotiations continue to fail.
“If we took a strike vote today it would be 100 percent,” said 16-year bus driver Terry Hermeling.
Hundreds of district employees attended last month’s Rockford School Board meeting to plead their case for higher wages. All three groups are in the process of negotiating new contracts. Their old contracts expired June 30.
A bus driver strike could leave 18,000 students without rides to school. In other cities, bus driver strikes have forced parents to find alternative means of transportation for their children.
For the third day in a row, the school district in Louisville, Kentucky, canceled bus routes due to a critical bus driver shortage. It’s the 11th time this has happened in the 2016-17 school year. There’s disagreement over what’s driving people out of the seat.
“When you’re called an ‘M-Fer’ and anything and everything down the road—stuff spit at you, thrown at you, or threatened by a parent at a child’s bus stop because you wrote a disciplinary action against that child—a lot of drivers say, ‘I don’t need this,’ and they pack up and leave,” said John Stovall, spokesperson for the drivers union.
The bus drivers’ union says JCPS is 50-70 drivers short, which leaves hundreds of children scrambling for a ride to school.
JCPS Spokesperson Jennifer Breslin said, “This is part of a national trend that we’re seeing where bus drivers are having a lot of opportunities as the economy improves, and some of them are looking to take those other opportunities. We have made a lot of changes so that we are better tracking and addressing more quickly the issues that happen on the bus. So I think that is an issue that we’ve actually gotten a hold of.”
With the two sides miles apart, students like Nate Moore fall through the gap. The district pulls drivers from alternative school routes to fill other holes and students like Moore are given public transportation passes. And, if you’re not here in time.
“You can lose out on a portion of your grade,” Moore said.
The “now hiring drivers” sign can always be seen on Crittenden Drive in front of the JCPS transportation headquarters. It has a starting pay of $16.58 an hour, but it’s still not good enough. JCPS says 220 bus drivers have been absent in the last three days.
Police charged a 45-year-old woman with assaulting a student from a special-needs school on a Prince George’s County school bus.
Owoade Elusanni repeatedly struck the 19-year-old student, authorities said. The assault was recorded on a camera on the bus. The student did not suffer any injuries, and the bus was in the parking lot of the school at the time.
Authorities charged Elusanni with second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. Police said a criminal summons has been issued for her.
Raven Hill, a spokeswoman for Prince George’s County schools, said the district will continue working with law enforcement to “ensure justice for this victim, who was unjustly assaulted.”
A San Antonio man was arrested after being involved in an accident with an empty school bus. Investigators found that 63-year-old Benjamin Linduff failed to yield right of way from a stop sign.
Officers discovered an open bottle of Jim Beam bourbon in Linduff’s vehicle. When asked how he ended up at the intersection, he reportedly said, “I have no idea.”
The arrest affidavit claimed that Linduff admitted to drinking two beers that afternoon. The report also alleges that Linduff had slurred speech and smelled like alcohol.
Linduff was arrested on complaints of driving under the influence, transporting an open container and failure to yield right of way from a stop sign. No other drivers were injured in the crash.
