Blue Valley school bus drivers vote down contract

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A suburban Kansas City school district joined two other districts preparing for a possible strike of bus drivers by voting down a contract offer.

Center and Park Hill districts voted for the same earlier this week. Olathe, Kan., bus drivers are scheduled to vote Thursday. Joe Sutton, union spokesman, said if they do strike, drivers in all of the districts would walk out the same day.

Mike Slagle, assistant superintendent in the Blue Valley School District, said officials there are determined to keep schools open in event of a strike.

The union's dispute is with First Student, a bus company that provides transportation for the four districts. The district has an enrollment of more than 21,000 students in southeast Johnson County, Kan. Slagle said about 6,000 of those students are bused each school day.