Ten percent of Wake County school bus drivers were out Friday

More than 10 percent of Wake County’s school bus drivers didn’t show up Friday afternoon – with some calling in sick because of a pay dispute – resulting in delays delivering some students home from class.

About 85 of Wake’s 825 bus drivers were not at work on Friday afternoon, compared to the normal total of 40 drivers who are absent, according to Lisa Luten, a Wake schools spokeswoman. Luten stressed that most drivers worked on Friday, helping to prevent what could have been a far worse situation for Wake’s 80,000 bus riders and their parents.

“The vast majority of children did get home on time Friday,” Luten said Monday.

School officials blamed Friday’s sick-out on driver anger over a payroll processing error that resulted in 1,200 school employees, including 370 in the transportation department, not seeing a recently approved 3-percent raise in their latest paycheck.

The employees are supposed to get their missing money this week. With the payroll issue corrected, school officials said bus service returned to normal Monday.

Some parents took to social media to say the drivers who were out on Friday should be disciplined. But school officials aren’t pursuing any action against those drivers.

Luten said any driver who called in sick Friday and has accrued sick leave will be paid for the time off. She said the system would only require a doctor’s note if the employee is out three days in a row.

While some of the drivers called in sick because they were upset about the payroll glitch, Luten said, other drivers were actually sick on Friday or went on vacation.

Terry Stoops, director of education studies for the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank in Raleigh, said it’s unprecedented for public school employees in North Carolina to miss work to protest conditions. But Stoops said that there’s not much Wake can do about it unless there’s evidence of a coordinated effort behind the sick-out.

“I’m sure a lot of parents want to get mad at the bus drivers,” Stoops said. “I’m not sure you can do much to penalize them.”

Calls to the N.C. Association of Educators and its local chapter were not immediately returned Monday. The group represents school bus drivers.

Wake historically has had difficulties finding enough bus drivers because of factors such as low pay, which ranged last school year from a starting salary of $12.18 an hour to $19.32 an hour after 31 years.

Wake largely eliminated the vacancy issue by taking 70 buses off the road this school year as part of a change that school officials say was designed to make service more efficient and effective. Some drivers have complained that the change has led to a reduction in their work hours.

When school officials learned of the higher-than-normal number of absences Friday, the district put behind the wheel all its substitute drivers and any employees who were certified to drive a bus.

Wake posted a warning on its website and social media Friday afternoon about delays of as much as two hours affecting as many as 70 schools in five transportation districts. The district also called parents of students at the affected schools with recorded messages about the delays.

But in the end, Luten said, Wake was able to limit the impact of the driver absences.

“The impact on Friday was minimal,” she said. “The impact on the news was greater than the impact in real life.”

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Ten percent of Wake County school bus drivers were out Friday."