Bus Driver Shares Concern About CMS Reopen Plan

CHARLOTTE, NC – A Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools bus driver is sharing her concerns after the board’s Wednesday decision to hold classes mostly from home this fall. 

“It’s going to affect me tremendously,” said the woman who asked to remain anonymous. 

She’s working her route for 21 years. She mostly enjoys spending time with the kids. But says the job can be stressful at times. 

“If we take our eyes off the road, you know, it could be something deadly,” she said. 

“I understand they’ve got to keep the kids safe,” she said, “ But since March they could have come up with a better plan.”

Earlier this week, the district voted to bring kids back to school for a few days of in-person instruction during the first two weeks of school. Classes would then transition to 100% remote learning. 

“I think we have to be working on some solutions to how we’re going to pay these people,” said board member Rhonda Cheek. 

She questioned what would happen to the employees whose job can’t be done remotely. 

“We have people in the administration that are not going to have anything to administer because the students are going to be in their homes,” said Cheek. 

Roughly 2100 CMS employees like custodians, bus drivers, and other hourly staff could potentially lose their jobs at the end of August. 

“We would be fine for a few weeks, but for an extended period of time then we would have to have some additional conversations about how we move forward,” said Supt. Earnest Winston.

Winston says they have funds to cover the salaries for about three weeks. But after that, it’s unclear what will happen. 

“It’s going to put me in a very bad place financially,” worried the driver.