SMITHFIELD – School bus drivers and monitors in town, many of whom have been working their routes for decades, say they’re about to be discarded in favor of drivers from another town.
The employees turned out for Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, saying that though they understood the council doesn’t have jurisdiction on such school matters, it was their only recourse after being excluded from the conversation.
Council President John Tassoni said if they did have jurisdiction, he would do something about it, urging attendees to go to the May 21 School Committee meeting, starting at 6:30 p.m., to have their voices heard. He said what is happening is a travesty, and there was no consideration of seniority or other matters under this strictly cost-saving plan. It will hurt 40-45 families in town, he said.
School officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. This story will be updated if and when they provide a response.
Denise Howard, lifelong town resident and 26-year bus driver whose grandson was recently saved from a choking incident by another driver and monitor, spoke as the unofficial spokesperson for the group, telling the council that all drivers and monitors are to be treated as new hires after years and even decades of working hard and earning seniority in town. With a planned merger, 86 staffers in Lincoln will have the opportunity to pick the routes they want, and then Smithfield workers will get what’s left, she said.
“You will lose everybody. You will not have any of your drivers,” said Howard.
Howard said Smithfield’s most senior driver has 42 years of experience driving in Smithfield, and that employee will now be 87th on the seniority list. Some drivers, if not most of them, will lose their jobs entirely, she said, despite years of dedication to the town. She described loss of income, routes, and being “forced to start from zero” if they do survive.
“This is not just a business change on paper, that is people’s livelihoods, routines, relationships, and years of dedication being erased,” she said.
Howard also expressed safety concerns about drivers who are unfamiliar with tough local roads such as Log Road, where she drives. Children deserve drivers who know the town, she said.
Smithfield workers will see their own personal travel time increase, Howard added, and there will also be longer wait times when buses break down. Anyone who’s ever been on a bus with children when a bus breaks down knows how stressful that can be, she said.
Howard wanted that what’s intended to be a cost-saving measure could end up costing more, with additional mileage and hourly pay for field trips and athletic events.
She also shared how Smithfield was one of two communities to return to school the Wednesday after this year’s blizzard, and that was due to the DPW’s incredible work to clear the bus yard and drivers and monitors, as they always do after storms, cleaning off their buses. Merged with Lincoln, she said, they will be completely dependent on that town’s schedule.
Responding to Tassoni, Howard said they’d met with First Student the morning and it was confirmed that every Lincoln employee will choose first on routes. Tassoni said that makes no sense, and these should be collaborative deliberations rather than forceful ones. He said it boggles his mind that one town would be given priority over another, and that perhaps it’s time for the General Assembly to revisit the idea of school officials having such blanket authority.
Howard said they only found out about the vote to merge with Lincoln two hours before it was going to happen. She said she’s so angry, after driving multiple generations of children, that they were never given a “choice or voice” in the matter.
