May 28th, 2011 
davidguide Trenton, NJ, United States (AHN) – Trenton Public Schools officials are working to continue bus service for students after transportation workers started a sick-out late in the week.
As state budget wrangling continues, the district is moving ahead with plans to privatize its school bus service, contending it could save about $2 million.
About half (15) of the district’s 29 transportation workers reportedly called in sick Thursday, though the number was reduced to about a third (9) Friday according to a school official. The 29 are a part of 196 school employees who recently learned they would lose their jobs to reduce the district’s school budget.
A report in the Trentonian stated 300 to 400 students missed school due to the school bus situation.
“So each of the (seven) drivers had to make three different runs, but that only covers 21 schools. There are 36 schools. Some students have to go to special schools as far out as Neptune. It’s a terrible mess. Kids are calling on the phones, left to stay at home, no way to get to school. Their parents have to take a bus to work, so they drop their child off, counting on a school bus to take them to school. Often they’re not picked up,” a source told the paper.
A school official admitted as much in a letter posted on the district’s website and sent home with students.
“We are experiencing a job action among our bus drivers,” interim superintendent Raymond Broach wrote. “This is causing delays in the pickup and delivery of our students and in some cases, (we’re) not picking up at all.”
With the drivers losing their jobs anyway, they will likely not be punished for their actions and the district will call upon drivers from other companies it has deals with — Rick Bus Co. and Delaware Valley Bus Line — to cover the gap in service, according to a report on nj.com.
Trenton Public Schools may get $12 million in additional school funding due to a recent action by the state legislature, but will still seek an outside vendor for its school bus service.
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