EBR: Schools to dismiss early after 52% of bus drivers called in

BATON ROUGE —- Bus drivers from East Baton Rouge Parish made their frustrations known when more than 50% did not show up for work on Friday, Aug. 18.

Of the 375 bus drivers EBRPSS has, 196 called out today.

A parent contacted Unfiltered with Kiran saying while dropping their child off to Woodlawn Middle, the carpool line was much longer than usual and they learned it was because so many bus drivers called out. This parent added it was bus drivers who do not have AC on their bus adding it was too hot to transport children without AC in this heat.

The East Baton Rouge Parish School System did put out an alert for parents notifying them that their children would not be penalizing for being late to school or being absent due to the bus shortage.

“Due to a high number of bus operators calling out sick, all schools in EBRPSS will delay classes for two-hours today. Employees will be at all school campuses at the regular time, and the buildings will be open for parents who drop their children off. Regular bus operations

Families in the Woodlawn area may see the greatest impact from the shortage of operators. If parents decide to drop their students off at school, the buildings will be staffed and regular classes will begin two hours after normal start-time.”

EBRPSS

It’s also why schools will now be dismissed earlier and the district will make the best use of the buses it does have.

High & and middle schools will now let out at at 1:25 pm while elementary schools will release at their normal time of 3:25 pm, said the district.

This is to utilize the depleted number of bus operators most optimally, they added.

Download the Unfiltered with Kiran app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to stay updated on any new developments.