Vidalia &8212; Twenty-seven Concordia Parish school bus drivers called in sick on Friday in protest of a Thursday night discovery in the recently approved bus operational allowance.

As a follow-up to Tuesday night&8217;s special board meeting on the allowance, district personnel met with the bus drivers Thursday to explain the money breakdown and what they could expect to see in their paychecks.

The bulk of Thursday&8217;s meeting ran smoothly, participants said, but things went downhill at the end of the meeting.

When a driver looked at percentage numbers converted to dollars he realized the new allowance figures only paid for a one-way trip, bus association President James Cockerham said.

&8220;We were under the impression and understanding that it was to be paid both ways for every mile traveled,&8221; Cockerham said.

Cockerham and two other drivers were part of a committee including school board members and office personnel that examined the operational allowance earlier this month.

That committee met and agreed on a recommendation upping the allowance one cent per route mile for every seven cents gas goes up. The recommendation was read to the board and immediately approved Tuesday night.

Both parties walked away from Tuesday&8217;s meeting saying they were happy with the result.

Superintendent Kerry Laster said the reference in the recommendation to &8220;route mile&8221; is based on the state&8217;s procedure for calculating those miles.

&8220;The state takes the whole route and divides it by two,&8221; Laster said. &8220;That&8217;s the way Concordia Parish has always paid, and that&8217;s the way 99 percent of the parishes pay.

&8220;They thought they were going to be paid mile for mile.&8221;

Cockerham said the &8220;route mile&8221; terminology wasn&8217;t discussed in the committee meetings.

&8220;Per route mile, that&8217;s an interpretive little statement,&8221; he said. &8220;That&8217;s a far cry from what we understood.

&8220;Why are they going to pay us one-way mileage? What are we going to do, bring the kids to school and not come back in the afternoon to get them? It takes fuel to make the evening run.&8221;

After Thursday night&8217;s meeting, once the misunderstanding was discovered, school officials scheduled another bus committee meeting for 5:30 Monday night.

&8220;There was an obvious breakdown somewhere,&8221; Laster said. &8220;I thought he understood it. I&8217;m not sure at this point how it&8217;s going to be resolved.

&8220;I have to think of children first. Yes, I live in an adult world, but I&8217;m here and I&8217;m responsible for children. I need to put them first. We can&8217;t always resolve adult problems as quickly as we&8217;d like.&8221;

Laster and several board members said they thought the matter had been solved at Tuesday&8217;s meeting.

&8220;I gave both parties a chance to say their piece the other night,&8221; board member Ricky Raven said. &8220;Both said they agreed.&8221;

Raven said he&8217;s not sure what the next step is, but said getting the children to school is first priority.

&8220;If this is a misunderstanding it wouldn&8217;t surprise me, because we&8217;ve had it before,&8221; he said. &8220;Still, not bringing the kids to school and not picking them up on a misunderstanding, I don&8217;t think that&8217;s the right course of action.&8221;

Board member Gary Parnham said he hoped Monday&8217;s meeting could offer some conclusion.

&8220;The board, we want to act in good faith,&8221; he said. &8220;We understand bus drivers cannot go into their salary and pay for their gas. We want to be fair. Maybe we acted too quickly, and maybe not.&8221;

The district expects buses to run as normal on Monday morning.