Prince William County Schools alerted parents to the fact that there would be a high number of bus drivers taking sick leave on Friday, which might delay their children’s’ arrival at school in the morning and return home in the afternoon.
However, local parents raised the question if the bus drivers are initiating some sort of job action.
According to Prince William County Schools, “I believe the situation is not any kind of work action,” Director, Communication Services Philip B. Kavitz said.
PWCS notified county parents on Oct. 26 via the auto-dialer system about the ongoing bus driver shortage, which they warned would result in delays in service due to the difficulty the school division has experienced in finding adequate substitutes to fill in for routine driver absences.
Virginia law prohibits work actions of any sort by public employees. Therefore, PWCS employees may not engage in any form of organized obstruction of the school division, such as a “sickout.”
“The bottom line is that until we can find and complete training for additional qualified drivers, there will be occasional and unpredictable delays,” he said.
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