Providence public school students have to find their own transportation to school starting Thursday morning. The city’s school bus drivers are striking, after recent contract negotiations fell through.
The school bus strike comes after weeks of talks between city bus drivers, represented by the Teamsters’ Local 251, and the bus company – the Ohio-based First Student. More than 9,000 Providence middle and elementary school students are without school bus service.
City and school department officials say they’ll deploy bus monitors and police to help shepherd students to class, and check bus stops in case some students didn’t receive notice of the strike.
Neither the city nor the school department are providing alternative transportation, but officials say schools will be lenient with tardiness, and excuse up to three absences during the strike.
