VIDALia &8212; Both sides quickly agreed Monday night that a specially called bus committee meeting was going nowhere.

They&8217;ll try again tonight with the full school board.

The bus committee &8212; four Concordia Parish school board members, three bus drivers and some district staff &8212; was joined by close to 20 other bus drivers, and no one was happy.

Twenty-seven bus drivers called in sick on Friday with no warning, leaving children standing on street corners without a ride to school.

The drivers were protesting a recently approved increase in the check that pays for their gas because they discovered Thursday night it only paid for one-way mileage.

Three drivers were involved in the committee that made the increase recommendation to the board, and said they were happy with the arrangement after it was approved last Tuesday.

&8220;When we left, I wish y&8217;all would have come back to the committee and said something,&8221; board member Gary Parnham told the drivers. &8220;To leave children on the road, I didn&8217;t particularly like that.&8221;

James Cockerham, president of the bus drivers association, said the drivers thought the recommendation covered two-way mileage and felt he&8217;d been deliberately lied to.

&8220;If the quoted money was right, we were happy,&8221; he said.

But Thursday night calculations by a driver showed that number to be wrong, he said.

Parnham and the three other board members present Monday night told the drivers they could not make a snap decision on the matter.

&8220;You can&8217;t strong arm us, and I&8217;m not going to strong arm you,&8221; Parnham said. &8220;I think this board has been very gracious to all employees.&8221;

The bus drivers started approaching the board last year when gas prices started increasing. One increase to their operational allowance was approved. After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the drivers approached the board again to say the previously approved increase wasn&8217;t doing the job. The board cut the drivers an emergency check, asked for more time to come up with the long-term plan, formed the bus committee and approved the second increase last week.

The increase raised the drivers&8217; operational allowance by one cent for every seven cents gas prices go up. Diesel buses would get one more cent on top of that.

Drivers have said for months that they were dipping into their own salaries to pay gas or diesel prices. Most drivers own their own buses.

The second increase was based on route per mile calculations &8212; which the state figures based on one-way travel.

&8220;You as a board have a mind of your own,&8221; Cockerham said. &8220;There&8217;s nothing in state law that precludes you from paying both ways.&8221;

Board members acknowledged they don&8217;t fully understand how the drivers are paid and said they weren&8217;t aware of the route per mile discrepancy.

Yet, they asked why drivers hadn&8217;t brought the matter up before now and said they were unhappy with Friday&8217;s &8220;sick-out.&8221;

&8220;I think it showed poor taste not to drive last Friday,&8221; Raymond Riley said. &8220;We sat with you in good faith to solve the problem.

&8220;We felt we had an agreement. I&8217;m in agreement with paying as the state does, one-way. I think we are here in vain.&8221;

Parnham agreed that the committee meeting was irrelevant to another specially called full board meeting planned for tonight.

&8220;The full board needs to be here,&8221; he said. &8220;We&8217;ve got to be reasonable and sit down. This committee can&8217;t do diddly.&8221;

Riley told the drivers he didn&8217;t think a decision that would please both sides would come at tonight&8217;s full board meeting either.

Driver Charles Jackson, who is on the bus committee, said the drivers were concerned about the children.

&8220;What happened Friday, I&8217;m very sorry that took place,&8221; he said. &8220;It hurt me. Those kids are just like my family. We should try to work together, but if you are going to pay one-way and we take the rest out of our pockets, I feel that&8217;s unfair.&8221;

Board members said they wanted to review all the figures more closely.

&8220;Our figures are showing you are making money,&8221; Jimmy Wilkinson said. &8220;Your figures are not. We have to figure out what&8217;s right and what&8217;s wrong.&8221;

Committee and board member comments Monday were met with several outbursts from drivers, some comments that resignations were coming and buses would have to be parked.

The full board will meet tonight at 5:30 in the school board meeting room.