Are Framingham, Marlborough and Westborough schools ready for a bus driver strike?

While negotiations between school bus drivers in three MetroWest communities and the vendor that provides them to the school district continue to take place, school administrators have been forced to plan for the possibility that bus service will not be available Monday morning, should a strike occur.

"This is not a matter where the School Department is somehow in conflict with the bus drivers — there is a misunderstanding, sometimes, but this is a dispute between the Teamsters and NRT," Framingham Superintendent of Schools Robert Tremblay said. "We don't have a seat at the table in these negotiations, (but) we are still responsible for providing an education to our students and we have to figure out how we can make that work."

Earlier: School bus drivers may strike in three communities next week. What you should know.

A strike is possible due to a contract dispute between Teamsters Local 170, which represents bus drivers and monitors in Framingham, Marlborough and Westborough, and NRT, the North Reading-based vendor that is contracted by the districts to provide school busing.

On April 27, Local 170 sent a letter to superintendents in all three communities notifying them that unless a deal is reached, drivers will strike Monday.

The sides have continued to negotiate, but a deal has yet to be struck. That means the school districts must come up with solutions for getting thousands of kids to school without the aid of the typical fleet of school buses.

5,500 Framingham students take school busses

Tremblay said about 5,500 Framingham students rely on bus transportation to get to and from school. The district sent out a survey to parents to determine how many students would be able to find another way, if a strike were to occur, and found that about 50% of them could in the short term, be it by carpooling or otherwise.

Tremblay said the focus will be on the more than 2,500 students who have no other way to get to school, and to allocate resources to accommodate them. He said there will likely be a small amount of busing provided by NRT, and that the district also has some shuttle buses that will be driven by administrators to replace some school buses.

"We expect there to be some number of drivers that NRT will be able to provide, whether those are other drivers they bring in or not, there will be some number of buses," Tremblay said. "We are working to create a customized plan for those students in need. We have a few white (shuttle) buses, in this case myself and (FPS Finance Director) Lincoln Lynch will be driving them, so it's literally all hands on deck."

MWRTA busses will be free for students

Tremblay added that the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority is waiving all fees for students who show a student ID. He said the MWRTA already buses about 100 students to and from school each day, and that the agency has been a good partner in providing additional options.

New administrator: MWRTA's Jim Nee wants to expand, needs more drivers

In Marlborough, the district has published a contingency plan for students if the strike occurs. The plan calls for students who live within a 1.5-mile radius of their school to either walk or carpool. School staff and police officers will be available to guide students, as needed.

The Marlborough plan notes that, like Framingham, a limited number of buses could be available, and those buses will be allocated to neighborhoods containing a high concentration of students.

"Students will be notified if they are assigned to these limited routes," the plan states. "If you don’t receive notification of assignment to a bus route by Sunday, May 7, please plan to walk or drive your student to school,"

School unlikely to be canceled

Tremblay reiterated Wednesday during a School Committee meeting that Framingham has no plans to cancel school due to transportation issues, and that officials are willing to be as flexible as possible.

“It’s our attempt to try and create a driving plan for our thousands of students," hevsaid. "This will be far from perfect, this will be literally the best we can do given the circumstances, and maybe literally not knowing those circumstances until the weekend. We will do our best, we are willing to excuse absences related to transportation. We don’t have a remote learning program in place that is approved by the state, (so) we are planning on going to school and not to cancel.”

Reimbursements to families: Framingham School Committee takes action on bus driver shortage

Marlborough Superintendent of Schools Mary Murphy stated in an open letter to Teamsters Local 170 and NRT that Marlborough will also not cancel school, but that the disruption will unnecessarily impact a majority of students who are categorized as "high needs."

"The learning disruption that will be created by a strike is not only unnecessary and but will disproportionately impact a student population where almost 75% are categorized as high needs students," Murphy stated in the letter.

Tremblay said during Wednesday's committee meeting that depending on the length of the strike, canceling school could lead to extended school days, school being scheduled on weekends and other measures to make sure students get their mandatory 180 days.

"If we did cancel, and not knowing how long a strike would last, there is the potential we would have to restart school including weekend attendance in order to fulfill the 180 day school requirement under the law,” he said.

Westborough Superintendent of Schools Amber Bock wrote in a prepared statement that school in Westborough will also not be canceled. The town also anticipates having some buses available, but Bock states most families will have to arrange alternative transportation.

"The Westborough schools will be open and will continue to be open through the duration of any strike situation," Bock wrote. "Currently, we anticipate that we will have some buses available, and families are developing plans to get their children to school. Having safe, consistent busing available is an essential service for public schooling and we hope that both NRT and the Teamsters understand that they need resolution of contract issues as soon as possible."

Districts scramble to provide additional services to stranded students

In addition to attending class, students rely on additional services from school, including meals. Tremblay said that working through the pandemic did give the district experience in providing some services to homebound students.

"Our food services are working on providing meals to students who can't get to school, or get to school on time, for breakfast and lunch," he said. "There are students that require the school meals for their nutrition to be met. In this regard, we are prepared to pivot on demand if we can, and we are ready to prepare the meals as best we can so students don't fall victim to this conversation between two parties to settle a contract dispute."

Opinion: Children are hungry, so let's make free school meals permanent

In her letter to NRT and Local 170, Murphy wrote that students who rely on busing are more likely to be students who are also relying on the school for other services, meaning they would be disproportionately impacted by the strike.

"More than half of our students rely on our schools to provide breakfast and lunch and many others receive mental health services. Every minute in school is critical," she stated.

Marlborough's contingency plan noted that any student who is unable to attend school during the strike and would like to request a meal should email Director of Finance and Operations Doug Dias at ddias@mps-edu.org in any language.

What about sports?

Scholastic sports, which also rely on school bus transportation, will be impacted by a strike as well. Tremblay said Framingham High Athletic Director Paul Spear is working to find as many ways to solve any transportation issues that arise. Possibilities include carpooling, using school vans or even trying to reschedule away games as home events.

COVID bus shortage: You can't win if you can't get to the game

Getting students to athletic events has been a problem since the pandemic, due to a bus driver shortage that has left school athletic departments scrambling to get students to games.

"If you ask any AD, they will probably tell you that the worst part of the job is scheduling transportation, and a bus driver's strike obviously just makes it much more difficult than it already is," Tremblay said.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Possible bus driver strike has school officials making alternate plans