St. Tammany Parish school buses ran their routes as normal Monday morning after a surprise sickout on Friday caught both the administration and the St. Tammany Federation of Teachers and School Employees by surprise.
The sickout, which affected 14 schools across the parish, followed months of growing driver dissatisfaction over operational pay and rising maintenance costs. Many of St. Tammany’s nearly 400 bus drivers own their buses and say that the operational money provided by the state, last increased in 1986, does not cover the cost of keeping their buses in good working order.
The sickout prompted a robocall to parents Friday night from St. Tammany Schools Superintendent Frank Jabbia, who said that the school district’s contract with the employees union prohibits sickouts, work stoppages or strikes. He called the sickout disappointing and added that there is an open-ended offer for a raise on the table.
Jabbia and union officials met yesterday, and both sides described the meeting as positive.
