After claiming poor pay and unfair treatment, DeKalb County bus drivers launched a “sick out” on April 19, 20 and 23 to advocate for better working conditions. Over the three days, approximately 42 percent of bus drivers were absent. This large percentage of absences caused trouble for Chamblee Charter High School students who were stuck without a way to get to school.
“My mom had to drive me all the way to school, which is a trek considering I live 45-50 minutes away from the school,” said sophomore Jonina Bullock.
Bullock is one of the many students that ride a shuttle bus from the Georgia Perimeter Clarkston campus to Chamblee. Some students who attend the shuttle are dropped off by a parent at Georgia Perimeter, others ride another bus to the shuttle stop from schools such as Stephenson and Cedar Grove. The Memorial shuttle stop has more than twenty routes that pass through each morning, but when students arrived on the morning of April 19, the shuttle looked deserted.
“We drove to the memorial shuttle as usual that day and saw only three buses there but they weren’t letting anyone on and the cop was just telling parents to go back home,” said senior Kennedy Sims.
“We has saw the news about the sickout Thursday morning but we did not know if it was going to be a big deal or if all of the drivers would go through with it.”
DeKalb County sent out an email to parents on April 18, warning them of the possibility of late or unavailable transportation for their children on the following morning. DeKalb claimed the situation was under control and assured parents that their kids would not be punished for late arrival or failure to attend school at all, but as the morning of April 19 progressed, many students were left without any way to get to school.
“I ended up going to work with my mom and arranging for a friend to pick me up from the Chamblee Marta station on her way to fourth period,” said Sims.
Though students and parents were definitely frustrated with the unexpected shift in their transportation schedule, many members of the Chamblee community agree that the bus drivers were right to protest for better treatment.
“It was quite a surprise the first day as you know Atlanta traffic sucks, but we all got to where we needed to be,” said Chamblee parent Sujata Bhowmik. “We are in full support of the bus drivers and I was very disappointed to hear that eight of the drivers were fired by Dr.Green.”
Bullock agrees that the striking bus drivers should not have been let go.
“I do not think they should have been fired because they were just standing up for what they felt was right,” said Bullock. “I think they deserve to get paid more, they are so crucial to our school system.”
Though the bus sick out ended on April 24 without the results the drivers were hoping for, some believe that there is still hope.
“I think that the students should really step forward and sign a petition so that our voices and opinions can be heard,” said Bhowmik.
