UPDATE: Fairborn City bussing to return Thursday with significant delays

FAIRBORN — UPDATE @ 7:15 p.m. (Oct. 14):

Fairborn City Schools announced on Facebook that there will be busing on Thursday.

In the post, they told parents there would be significant delays.

UPDATE @ 11:20 a.m. (Oct. 14):

Bus drivers who needed to quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure was cited as the reason for another day of transportation issues within the Fairborn City Schools district, according to a district spokesperson.

>>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Fairborn schools on remote learning Monday due to bus issues; High school remains remote through Friday

The district notified parents early Wednesday morning that transportation would not be provided and students would need to be driven and picked up from schools.

“FCS has a number of bus drivers quarantined due to COVID and not enough drivers to make all routes. FCS realizes the issues this causes our families (especially early in the morning) and we are working on a solution to this issue,” the district spokesperson said in a Facebook post.

>>RELATED: Fairborn superintendent addresses sudden absences of bus drivers Monday

The district went on to explain that today’s issues were different than Monday, where 22 bus drivers called in sick.

“On Monday, we were unaware of so many absences of our drivers until 5:00 a.m. when we would normally have our incredible transportation staff showing up to work. That did not provide us enough time to plan for in-person school without transportation”

“Today, Wednesday, we were informed that we have a few drivers quarantined because of COVID and we had some call out this morning. There were not enough drivers to cover all routes this morning and again, we cannot perform some routes but not all. We were able to adjust our plans from Monday as we now have procedures in place for when we do not have enough drivers at work,” the spokesperson said.

The district spokesperson also encouraged families to have back-up plans for school transportation due to uncertainty and daily changes caused by the pandemic.

This is a developing story and we’ll update this story as we learn more.

FIRST REPORT 7 a.m. (Oct. 14):

For a second day this week Fairborn City Schools has reported busing issues involving the district’s transportation department, according to statements posted by the district.

“FCS is actively working with Transportation this morning but we do not have enough drivers to cover routes,” a district spokesperson said in a Facebook post.

Parents of students who are learning in-person are required to transport their children to and from the schools today, according to the district. However, absences and tardies will be excused today.

Fairborn High School remains in remote learning this week, through Friday, after positive COVID-19 cases at the school, including quarantining most of the school’s football team.

>>District recognizes several credited with saving Fairborn athlete’s life

Today’s round of transportation issues comes after a similar issue Monday where the district was forced to move all students in the district to remote learning. Over 20 bus drivers called off Monday, which is about a third of the entire driving force.

The school district said the issues Monday were being investigated as an “unauthorized strike.”

“We are in the process of investigating that and interviewing and see exactly why so many on one-day called off,” district Superintendent Gene Lolli told News Center 7 Tuesday.

“We don’t know if it was COVID-related; don’t know if they were legitimately sick or (had) doctor’s appointments. We do on a normal day have normal call-offs, but 22 was an extreme amount.”

Both the district and the union representing the bus drivers, Dayton Public Service Union Local 101, will be the subject of an emergency hearing Thursday with the State Employment Relations Board.

The hearing was called “to determine whether the actions of the employees in question constitute a strike.”

We’ll continue to update this story with new developments as they happen.

Cox Media Group