DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF) – Bus drivers in Dallas County are worried about their jobs following a vote to abolish Dallas County Schools, which provides transportation for school districts in Dallas County.
The transportation service will be no more after this school year. Before this month’s vote, DCS was criticized for financial problems and the behavior of some of its drivers. Now, drivers fear they will have to start all over with lesser pay, possibly no retirement, and lesser benefits.
“I purposely grabbed this job because it had benefits and retirement,” Michelle Foster said.
Foster has been a driver in Dallas County for 13 years. She and other bus drivers are lost on where to go next.
“They’re not telling us anything,” Foster said. “Nothing at all. Maybe if they told us something we could prepare, but nobody is telling us anything.”
It’s believed each school district in Dallas county will adopt its own plan for transportation.
“These drivers who did nothing to cause the problems in Dallas County Schools feel cheated, and scapegoated,” Bus Driver, Linda Barrett said.
Many drivers say they are afraid that they will be the target of a newly elected Dissolution Committee and that fear of cuts will cause more drivers and monitors to leave and make the driver shortage worse, making it even harder to get students to school on time.
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