BROCKTON — An average of 20 to 30 Brockton school bus drivers are absent almost every day, said City Council President Moises Rodrigues, and according to school department leaders, some have been terminated for “excessive absences.”
Many of Brockton Public Schools’ 140 bus drivers have been “abusing” their sick time benefits, as many Brockton city councilors said during the recent budget hearings for the upcoming fiscal year.
“There’s an excessive amount of either no shows, call outs, sick calls,” Rodrigues said at the nearly 5-hour hearing on June 18, where Brockton city councilors dug into the school department’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2025.
“It’s going to get to a point where folks need to be reprimanded severely because there are abuses going on,” said the City Council president.
The Brockton City Council voted Monday night, June 24 to cut the BPS transportation budget by $7 million, reducing the total proposed by Mayor Robert F. Sullivan from $18 million to $11 million.
The reduction comes after city councilors expressed major concern over the Brockton School Committee’s proposed budget, which included an extra $5.9 million to fund additional staff positions that city councilors also turned down in their final budget on top of the $7 million slash to the school district’s separate budget for its transportation department.
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Are BPS drivers abusing sick leave?
At the June 18 BPS budget hearing, Acting Superintendent James Cobbs said, ”some employees have been terminated from the transportation department,” but the school committee’s contract with the bus drivers’ union has a multi-step process when it comes to contract grievances and firing employees.
“We do have union contracts, we do have a discipline system that’s in place,” Cobbs said. “We have terminated employees for violations if we get to that point, but they have a grievance process that we have to go through.”
What does the contract say?
The contract between BPS and the union that represents its bus drivers states that every year, drivers will get 12 sick leave days that can roll over year after year until they reach 190 days.
According to the contract, “sick leave shall generally only be taken when illness or injury to the employee prevents him from attending to the performance of his duties.”
The bus drivers’ current contract expires June 30, 2025.
Rodrigues said that at least 20 yellow school bus drivers are absent every day, leaving bus routes of students to be picked up by multiple smaller buses or vans.
“I’ve called them in, and I’ve discussed it with them, many of the drivers that have excessive absences, and then I defer to HR,” said BPS Director of Transportation Jennifer Perez.
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Transportation audit still hasn’t started
At least five months ago, the Brockton School Committee ordered a full investigative audit of the BPS transportation department, but Cobbs said that the school district is still negotiating with three audit firms that submitted bids, and the audit hasn’t started yet.
Meanwhile, according to third-party investigators, the school district has rapidly overspent its transportation fund over the years as it’s tried to create its own transportation company. Since 2021, BPS has been purchasing a fleet of school buses and vans so it can transport students in-house rather than leasing vehicles.
However, BPS still hasn’t been able to afford enough vehicles for its massive system of student transportation that goes both inside and outside the district. A portion of the proposed $18 million would lease additional buses and vans to account for the large population of BPS students that are homeless or have mandated special education requirements.
Still, the Brockton School Committee plans to move forward with its financial and operational audit of the transportation department.
“The biggest issue is how we fix the transportation department,” said School Committee Vice Chair Tony Rodrigues in an interview with The Enterprise Monday afternoon.
City Council slashes budget, demands accountability
After denying BPS’ request for an additional $6 million for “critically needed” staffing positions, the City Council slashed another $7 million from the district’s non-net school spending budget, which funds the schools’ transportation.
Ward 6 Councilor Jack Lally said the cut was “an attempt to bring some responsibility” to the school department’s spending after finishing fiscal year 2023 with a deficit of over $18 million. Lally also said the $7 million will remain in the city’s general fund and school leaders can request more funding later in the year.
“We want them to come back and tell us how they’re performing,” he said.
Chris Helms contributed additional reporting to this story.
