Parents say some CCSD buses were 4+ hours late for student pickup

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - The Clark County School District on Tuesday released a statement in response to planned staff “call outs” across the valley on the same day multiple families reported hours long wait times for school buses.

Some parents received text messages with delays of up to 240 minutes (about 4 hours) for pickup in the morning. Some speculated that the transportation issue was related to a planned protest reference the vaccine mandate and job wages.

Drivers were asked to come in 30 minutes early in preparation of the call out.

Danielle Smith has four children in the district. She said she woke up early to deal with any bus issues. By 7:00 a.m., she still hadn’t heard anything about her middle schoolers transportation.

“His bus did not give me any kind of notification that it would be late,” Smith said. “And being that I couldn’t track it on the GPS, I just told him I was going to take him today.”

She drove three out of the four children to school. Her one child who uses a wheelchair was picked up as normal.

Smith said while she supports the protest, she doesn’t know what she will do if it continues.

“I might have to consider online schooling again,” Smith said. “If not all of them, some of them just to make sure they received the instruction they need.”

Following a media inquiry, CCSD sent the following:

“The Clark County School District strives every day to create a safe and healthy environment for everyone to work, learn and thrive.

As was stated at the Special Board meeting held on September 1, 2021, the District will continue to work with the employee bargaining units to come to an agreement to support a healthy and productive work environment and culture for all.

There are several factors as to why an employee may be utilizing sick leave such as feeling ill, planned doctors appointments, maternity leave or other planned leave.

See below numbers regarding staffing:

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021: 813 licensed employees utilized sick leave. Making up less than 5% of CCSD’s 18,000 licensed employees.

For comparison purposes, on Monday, Sept 3, 2019 (day after Labor Day): 411 licensed employees utilized sick leave. Making up less than 2.5% of CCSD’s 18,000 licensed employees.”

The Education Support Employees Association (ESEA) told FOX5 that walkout was not orchestrated by their union.

“ESEA would like to make clear that we did not organize or have any involvement with this planned walk out or work stoppage,” the group said in a statement. “Pursuant to Article 30 of the Negotiated Agreement with CCSD as well as NRS 288, ESEA has not and will not endorse any kind of walk-out or work stoppage.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.