Some families express frustration as a bus driver strike in the Mat-Su Valley continues
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - As a school bus driver strike entered its second day in the Mat-Su Valley, some families expressed frustration at the lack of transportation and the struggle to get their children to school.
Elizabeth Fitzgibbon said she doesn’t have a choice. She doesn’t drive, her husband works odd hours with the family’s only car, and no neighbors have children that attend the same school. “When there’s school in session, but I can’t take my kids, it just makes me feel like I can’t help with that,” she said. Fitzgibbon said her frustration is compounded by the fact that both of her daughters, aged 9 and 10, have special needs and she worries they aren’t getting the services they deserve. “They do better at school,” Fitzgibbon said. “I am not a teacher that’s good with the special needs, and they don’t want to do some of the school like their teachers are trained .” Mat-Su Superintendent Randy Trani said overall absenteeism was down a little less than 3% on Monday, the first day of the strike. He added that a number of special education routes are still running but not all of them. “I know our special education department is trying to be in contact with those families who are impacted by the strike,” he said. “Trying to provide what supports we can. Unfortunately, this is the second time that a strike has occurred between the Teamsters and their employer, and so we’ve gone through this ground before. What happened in the past is that we offered compensatory education to those special education students later on in the year to make up for the time that they may have lost due to the strike.” Trani said he hopes a meeting scheduled for May 17 and 18 with Teamsters Local 959, which represents the bus drivers, and Durham Transportation, the company that has a ten-year bussing contract with the district, will be fruitful.Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake‘Like a jet blasted you in the face’: 85 mph Arctic storm winds trap 150 people at Alaska basketball tournament
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