TANGIPAHOA PARISH, La. — More than 10 percent of school bus drivers in Tangipahoa Parish reportedly called out sick on Thursday, prompting the school district to call parents to pick up their children from schools.
According to the Tangipahoa Parish School System, 30 of the parish’s 270 bus drivers called in sick on Thursday. Tangipahoa Parish schools notified parents around lunchtime that many bus drivers were unable to run their afternoon routes and asked them to pick up their children in carpool lanes.
The district said that students that must take the bus home would be delayed.
“We will do our best to get [students] home, but it could be later than expected,” the message to parents said.
Thursday’s mass sick calls in Tangipahoa Parish come less than a week after 62 bus drivers called in sick in neighboring St. Tammany Parish. In that instance, parents at 14 schools received robocalls informing them that their children would be greatly delayed arriving home.
Friction between drivers and the school district has been building for months in St. Tammany Parish as drivers say current operational pay is not sustainable and becoming worse due to inflation.
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