Seattle Public Schools is continuing to remind families that there COULD be a school-bus-driver strike at any time, and one reader suggested we should publish an update.

First Student is the company that provides yellow-bus service for SPS students. It’s been two months since the Teamsters Union Local 174 members who work for First Student voted to authorize a (potential) strike, as explained on the union’s website. And that followed what the union says were “several months of negotiations” over health care and pensions.

The most-recent update on the union website is from November 15th, reporting that mediated talks had broken down.

Just before Thanksgiving break, the district published an update on its website, reminding families:

… First Student and the bus driver union have not resolved their labor dispute and continue to negotiate. All families who use yellow school bus service need to have alternative plans to get their student to school in the event of a strike. Any potential strike affects yellow bus riders. If your student gets to school using other district-provided methods (e.g. taxi, American Logistics), those services will not be disrupted. …

No updates on the bus service’s website. The district promises notification as quickly as possible if it gets word of a walkout, and we would of course publish it here too. So far, though, no changes, so this is just a reminder that it’s still a possibility.