Washtenaw Intermediate School District is trying to hire more bus drivers and monitors. That's to avoid a repeat of Monday morning's cancellation of school bus service for Ann Arbor Public Schools. The buses resumed running Monday afternoon.
WISD has also "offered staff compensation incentives to attend work and to stay through the duration of our contracts," said Emma Jackson, WISD's spokesperson.
Twelve drivers called in sick Monday morning, and six more had excused absences. On January 8, WISD canceled bus service to Ann Arbor Public Schools and Ypsilanti Community Schools when 36 WISD transportation staff members called in sick, according to Jackson.
In a letter on Monday to Ann Arbor families, Ann Arbor Public School Superintendent Jeanice Swift apologized for the disruption in bus service and said that "there is no excuse for a lapse in contractually required transportation."
Ann Arbor Public Schools notified WISD in late January that it will not renew the transportation contract for school bus service from WISD at the end of the school year.
– Virginia Gordan, Michigan Radio Newsroom
