MANCHESTER, Conn. — Hundreds of bus drivers may not show up for work Monday morning in response to Governor Lamont's vaccine mandate which goes into effect on Monday.
Parents expressed concerns over their children not having a way to get to school and Governor Lamont said he has no plans to change his mind.
"I don't think they should be forced to get it. I believe they should have a choice," said Christopher Jones of Manchester.
Jones is a parent to three children.
His 11-year-old daughter is the only one who takes the bus to school.
While he and his wife have not received any notices on transportation issues, he said he would like a heads up if it does happen.
"As a parent, it's already stressful enough dealing with schedules and getting your kids to school in the morning and just this is just not making it any easier for parents. We're not the only ones expressing our anger and discontent towards it," added Jones.
Governor Lamont has mandated state employees and education workers to be vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID-19.
However, according to Jon Hipsher of the Connecticut School Transportation Association, up to 400 bus drivers have opted out of this mandate.
"Worst case scenario could be there are some buses sitting idle in the lots," said Hipsher.
Bus drivers hoped to reach a compromise with the governor.
"We need a significant extension of time 90 to 120 days, that way all of the drivers have a chance to process the mandate," added Hipsher.
FOX61 spoke to Max Reiss with the Governor's Office on Friday who explained the reasoning behind the decision.
"If you have a coach who's a part time coach with the school district probably spending most of their time outside, do you want to explain with a parent why that coach isn't vaccinated?" said Max Reiss, communications director for Governor Lamont.
Ultimately, the question parents now want an answer to - who is going to take their children to school if the strike continues?
"We're working with some of our existing state partners like Veyo which could provide some para-services, provide some level of transportation. We're also working on a potential mutual aid structure where they may be some support some districts could provide to others," added Reiss.
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