Gas cards for parents of students in Mat-Su? School board to take it up next week, as bus driver strike continues

With parents and guardians now driving children to school in the Mat-Su, the Mat-Su Borough School Board is looking for ways to help. Gift cards for gas may be the answer.

Bus drivers who are members of Teamsters Local 959 went on strike a week ago Tuesday over a contract negotiation impasse with Durham Student Services, the company that has the bus contract with the school district. Even if the strike ends before the school board meets, the board may decide to issue gas gift cards to parents to help out families.

The matter of gas gift cards came up at a joint meeting of the school board and the borough Assembly on Monday, and some consideration was given to calling for an emergency school board meeting. But in the end, the board, through consultations with its lawyer, determined there is no actual emergency, as defined by borough law, and that the matter can wait a week and be taken up on the regular school board agenda.

The details about how the gas gift cards would be issued still need to be worked out, sources said.

The dispute itself doesn’t involve the school district but is between bus drivers and their employer, Durham. Mat-Su School District is the second-largest in the state.