‘Something needs to happen’ Parents, striking bus drivers voice their anger, frustration

For the second time this month, the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) school board meeting was dominated by the ongoing school bus driver strike.

This time, the majority of the speakers were parents affected by the strike. Many expressed anger and frustration at Durham, demanding accountability from the company.

“The school day begins and ends with the drivers. Students are influenced and supported by the people behind me (school bus drivers),” said Spencer Adamson, a parent of 3 boys in the school district who had previously driven for First Student. He also called for more respect to bus drivers, likening them to heroes for the risks they are willing to take to get students to school.

“They put their lives on the line in snow, rain, cold, and dark, keeping the kids safe. Hold Durham accountable.”

Kent Schiebel, a longtime resident of the Mat-Su Valley with 2 children attending elementary schools in the district, expressed disappointment in how the situation is being handled

“It’s been really rough on us. My wife had to resign from her job, and we’re down to 1 income,” he told board members, adding, “it’s been tough, but at the same time, I respect these guys for looking out for the safety of our kids.”

Schiebel told the board that he has friends who drive buses for a living, and the stories he has heard from them about issues with buses gives him pause.

“It’s very frustrating to see a company that’s supposed to be professional and take care and trust our kids, go without heating the bus.” He said that after his kids talked about how cold the buses were, he called Durham but has gotten very little response or respect.

“It would be nice if they were held accountable and at a higher standard.”

“Something needs to happen,” stated Meg Fenner.

Another parent, Jessica Green, recounted an incident back on January 20 in which her children’s bus had a substitute driver who had gotten lost on the route and later slid into a ditch, nearly hitting a resident’s shed.

“The bus was pulled out of a ditch around 4:45 pm by my neighbor, whose daughter was on the bus that day. Thankfully my daughter was able to call me. She was very scared and there were screaming kids in the background.”

Green said there was no notification from the school or Durham, and that the school wasn’t notified until she spoke with school administration the next day. She added that she sent an email to MSBSD school board that went unanswered, and when she spoke with a receptionist, they had only been informed that a driver got lost “and was a little bit late.”

“This means that either the substitute bus driver didn’t report it correctly, or didn’t have the tools, resources, and help from dispatch to deal with this situation with screaming kids on board.”

She also wonders what would have happened if her neighbor hadn’t pulled the bus out of the ditch.

“Clearly, something is wrong behind the scenes that we don’t know about, and the families of the kids on that bus were never told what actually happened. That’s a big problem.”

Green ended her statement echoing a sentiment others were making:

“I wish I could trust Durham school buses with my kids, but even when it seems things are working, they’re clearly not working.”

Meanwhile, the MSBSD school board discussed the idea of disbursing gas cards to eligible families for costs incurred as a result of the current and ongoing interruption of transportation services caused by the bus strike. The measure, if adopted, would authorize the administration to purchase gas cards, in the amount of $50.00 per card, with a total not to exceed amount of $545,000.

Associate Superintendent Katie Gardner clarified that the way this particular item was structured would leave room for the board to configure the process as far as amounts, how often and when such an item would be distributed.

“The way that this item was structured was not necessarily to say to the school board ‘this is the way to do it; this is the only way to do it,’ but as a starting point. So if the board wanted, they can have additional discussion on direction to provide to the Superintendent,” Gardner told the board.

“It’s not gas. They don’t use that much gas to take their kids to school. It’s time. It’s the time they have to take their child to school. It’s time they take to have somebody pick them up,” said MSBSD school board member Ole Larson when stating his objection to issuing gas cards, a position that members Kendal Kruse, Jacob Butcher, and Kathy McCollum also took.

“I feel like we need to acknowledge that families have really stepped up, and I know it’s really difficult for a lot of people, but there are other people suffering as well-the businesses in the community are experiencing difficulties because their employees not being able to come to work or leave work to take their kids to school early,” said McCollum.

Larson went on to state that the revenue for gas cards would be better utilized in the classroom.

“The strike between Durham and the union has nothing to do with this board. It’s very inconvenient for our students and our parents. Since we have nothing to do with the strike and have done nothing to cause it, giving $50 gas cards seems like taking sides within the strike, and I want to stay as neutral as possible,” said Larson, adding that in his opinion, the school board should step back and keep out of strike negotiations. He later expressed his desire to see both sides go back to the bargaining table, use mediation or arbitration if needed, or at least have a weekly meeting.

“This is a contract we led, this is a contract issue within the contract, and it affects the school district but we had nothing to do with it. It is out of our control.”

MSBSD school board president Tom Bergey then posed a rebuttal, asking what the district should do with the transportation money given to MSBSD by the state of Alaska, to which Larson that because the district must supplement transportation funds when the state falls short, the money that comes back could be put into transportation funds for next year, thereby offsetting other funds for classroom usage.

“This is a problem between the union and the bus (company) and the more that we get involved in that, the worse it’s going to be,” said Kruse, who then went on to say, “there’s not a lot that we can do outside of what we’re doing.”

The lone MSBSD member who seemed in favor of the measure, Ted Swanson, said he would be supportive of this kind of measure.

“The money is already going toward transportation, and I would be OK with providing gas cards for the parents.”

The only action the board has taken so far is not paying Durham since there is no bus service, which is adding up.

“In terms of the scope, for simple general numbers, we’re looking at lost revenue right now around $1.7 million through January,” said Gardner. If February continues without bus services, the lost revenue would break even the monies that the district typically has to make up when the state falls short of transportation funds.

“If the transportation funds are not used by the end of the school year, those fund would roll over within the student transportation fund. We cannot take those fund and use them for anything else,” clarified Gardner.

She went on to say that the district has received confirmation from the state that utilizing transportation funds for gas cards is appropriate in this specific circumstance as there are no transportation services provided. Gardner did issue caution that if there is no resolution and no transportation contract next school year, and just use all of that money for gas cards.

“We’re in the business of educating. I think this would be overly burdensome to the administration,” school board member Jacob Butcher commented. “I think the school district administration needs to focus on educating our kids.” He also opposes the action.

“Transportation is the building block through which we educate our kids. If gas cards help get our kids to school, then more kids are being educated,” rebutted Swanson.

No action was taken on the measure during the meeting.

When the meeting opened up for more public comments, anger and frustration again spilled over, this time geared towards the MSBSD board members.

Cecil Lambert, a striking bus driver, symbolically took off his safety vest before addressing the board,

“I’m speaking as a parent right now,” he said. A parent of 4 children who attend schools in the Borough, Lambert expressed frustration to the board members

“I’ve heard it stated several times that this matter of transportation is between the teamsters and Durham. There is a denial of responsibility here,” he said. And while he appreciated the discussion of gas cards, Lambert said that isn’t what is needed to solve the issue.

“What we need, is we need your help because you are essentially the governing body of our district. We need your help. As a parent, I need your help. I’m here to remind you of that. You cannot divorce yourself from an obligation.”