3 Redmond School District bus routes canceled after 7 drivers call out sick
'The fact is, it’s the students and families who suffer.'
(Update: Adding video, school district comments)
REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Redmond School District canceled three bus routes for students Monday morning due to seven bus drivers calling in sick, an unusually high number, officials said.
Like many counterparts around the state and nation, the school district is currently facing a bus driver shortage, but this was the first-time bus routes for the school district needed to be canceled this school year. The call outs heavily impacted the district, which is still short staffed by 14 bus drivers.
“Our Transportation Department has worked so hard to try and keep things together, even with the bus driver shortage, but having seven people call in on short notice was just too much for us, and we had to cancel some routes,” school district spokeswoman Sheila Miller said.
After the bus route cancellations were announced by the school district, concerned viewers reached out to NewsChannel 21 worried the high number of employee call0outs was in protest to the upcoming vaccination mandate deadline.
“I assume that those people were sick," Miller said, "because if they weren’t, that’s a misuse of sick time, it’s a misuse of benefits and it’s also really disappointing.”
Monday marked two weeks until the state's Oct. 18 deadline until all school workers and volunteers to be vaccinated for Covid-19.
“It’s possible that if it were a protest, that some people think that by calling in sick and making life difficult that they're sticking it to the district, or they're sticking it to the governor," Miller said. "And the fact is, it’s the students and families who suffer.”
On average, between 1,200 and 1,800 Redmond students ride the bus to school every year. the Redmond School District has on average 6,500 students. The three routes affected were routes 12, 17 and 18, which serve all grade levels.
For parents whose children couldn't make it to school, the school district said it would excuse the absences.
