FAIRBORN — An emergency hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning with the State Employment Relations Board stemming from transportation issues within the Fairborn City Schools district this week.
PREVIOUS REPORT: District sites COVID-19 exposure as reason for Fairborn transportation issues Wednesday
The virtual hearing will start at 10 a.m. and involves the district and the union representing bus drivers for the district, Dayton Public Service Union Local 101.
>>RELATED: Fairborn superintendent addresses sudden absences of bus drivers Monday
The hearing was called “to determine whether the actions of the employees in question constitute a strike," according to the notice provided by the State Employment Relations Board.
Busing issues have been reported within the district throughout the week. On Monday, 22 bus drivers called off which prompted the district to move all schools to virtual learning for the day.
“We do on a normal day have normal call-offs, but 22 was an extreme amount," district Superintendent Gene Lolli previously told News Center 7.
The call-offs Monday prompted the district to launch an investigation into a possible “unauthorized strike” which has resulted in the hearing Thursday.
On Wednesday, a combination of call-offs and bus drivers in quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure, prompted a request for parents to transport students to and from schools.
“Wednesday, we were informed that we have a few drivers quarantined because of COVID and we had some call out this morning. There were not enough drivers to cover all routes this morning and again, we cannot perform some routes but not all. We were able to adjust our plans from Monday as we now have procedures in place for when we do not have enough drivers at work,” a district spokesperson said in a statement posted to Facebook Wednesday.
Wednesday night, the district said transportation would be provided, however significant delays were expected.
We’ll continue to update this story as new details become available.
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