ST. LOUIS — Some parents will have to find another way to get their kids to school in the city Tuesday morning.
Right now, a bus driver walkout is affecting the Saint Louis Public School District.
George Sells, with SLPS, said that 56 routes were uncovered Tuesday morning. He also said the number of routes uncovered Tuesday afternoon will be about the same.
After-school activities have been canceled Tuesday, but after-care programs remain the same. Sports will be handled on a school-by-school basis, Sells said.
The district is working to find coverage for the routes, but it could take 30 minutes to an hour. District officials are asking parents to find alternate arrangements for their children.
If you need to schedule an alternate ride for your students, district officials said you can call the Missouri Central Call Center at 314-449-9162 or the SLPS Transportation call center at 314-633-5107.
District officials said they will update parents about this ongoing situation through the website and text messages.
See a full list of the bus routes not in service today here.
Arcelia Cannon was one of many who had to quickly rearrange to get her student to school Tuesday morning.
"It's just a disservice. You have an appointment you have to schedule, reschedule everything. It's just not easy to get an appointment with doctors so I hope they get it together," she said.
For many working parents, like Adam Martin, the driver shortage issue is forcing him to leave work early.
"You don’t get all this time off to just go take care of this on a regular basis. Once and a while is understandable but consistently it’s affecting our jobs," he said.
Parents 5 On Your Side spoke to at Compton-Drew Middle School Tuesday morning said while this is a major inconvenience for them, they stand with the reasoning behind the bus driver walkout.
"That's disgraceful. This is 2024. Come on, get over it," Cannon said.
"We still deal with these issues and it’s sad, it’s really sad. I hope they can come to a quick conclusion on this and figure out who did it and punish them because it’s not right. It’s not right," Martin said.
The full statement from St. Louis Public Schools is as follows:
"We wanted to update you on the situation involving the driver walkout at Missouri Central Bus Company.
"At this point, Missouri Central has not been able to give any indication if or when their issues might be solved. Unfortunately, that leaves us looking for ways to make the best of a bad situation.
"For Tuesday, February 27, 2024, we will once again be cancelling most after-school activities. There are, however, exceptions:
"After-care at our schools will run as normal. Parent pick-up will follow normal timing and procedures.
Athletics will be handled on a school-by-school basis. Contact your school’s athletic director for information.
"Regarding bus service to and from school, we are simply unable to predict what will happen. With that being said, we encourage families to look into alternate plans for getting their students to and from school. While we certainly hope the busses will roll as normal, we are unable to guarantee it right now. We would recommend keeping a close eye on communications early tomorrow. We will be notifying families whose routes are not covered as early as possible.
"We once again apologize for any inconvenience. We, like you, are very much caught in the middle of this ugly dispute at Missouri Central. We promise to keep you up to date with any new information as soon as we have it.
"Once again, we thank you for your patience and support."
All of this is due to employees at Missouri Central Bus Company calling in sick in protest of the company's handling of a racial issue.
The fallout began Monday morning when about 60 of the district's bus routes went uncovered. Then, just hours before the last school bell rang, district officials announced after-school activities were canceled and that parents would need to find alternate arrangements for their students.
5 On Your Side spoke to mechanic Amin Mitchell with Missouri Central who claims he's endured racial slurs and harassment for two months now.
He said he reported it to HR and claimed after that, a noose was left in his work bay.
"Nobody came up to me to apologize about finding a noose. Nobody came to me to see how hurt I am or to see how traumatized or how much pain I'm in," Mitchell said.
Missouri Central School Bus Regional Operations Manager Scott Allen sent out this statement in response to the disruption:
"At Missouri Central, our policy is to provide and foster a work environment that is welcoming to all regardless of age, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. There is zero tolerance for any behavior that violates this policy.
"As such, we are hiring an independent third party this week to investigate these allegations, and we will take whatever action is deemed necessary based on what we learn.
"We are working diligently to minimize service disruptions for our students, families, and administrators as we understand how important it is for our children to be educated."
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