Metro

School-bus kids kept in limbo as drivers could strike as early as tomorrow

More than 150,000 children could be stranded without rides to school as early as tomorrow as the city and bus driver’s union leaders indicate that they are nowhere near an agreement on a new pact on job protections.

During a raucous press conference attended by hundreds of its members yesterday, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 leaders refused to give a timeline for a strike, saying they didn’t want to cause parents to “panic.”

“I did not draw a line in the sand,” insisted union Chief Michael Cordiello, whose looming strike would affect 152,000 kids who ride yellow buses — including 54,000 special-education students.

But, he added, “our final option will be to strike if we have to.”

A fired-up Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott shot back that the union was playing the fear card.

“We just don’t know [when] — and that’s the unfortunate part. The union has said, ‘Well, it may be on Monday. Well, it may be Wednesday. Maybe we’ll do it; maybe we won’t do it.’ They’re jerking our kids around. We can’t allow that to happen,” Walcott told reporters. “I’m not going to allow that to happen.”

The union wants to protect a provision that keeps workers from getting the boot in case the yellow-bus company they work for loses its contract with the city.

Those protections were struck down as illegal in a 2011 court decision.

If the union decides to strike, education officials plan to:

* Cancel all field trips. After-school programs will remain open but without bus service.

* Hand out MetroCards to all students who get yellow busing. The transit passes would also be given to parents and guardians of children in K-2 and special education.

* Reimburse car drivers 55 cents per mile where public transport is not available. Taxi or car service would be reimbursed.