Bus drivers won't cross picket line

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A St. Louis area school bus drivers strike has spilled over into Columbia.

Thousands of students in the mid-Missouri town had to find another way to school Friday after a union representing school bus drivers from Francis Howell and Fort Zumwalt school districts in St. Charles County set up pickets at First Student transportation company offices in Columbia.

First Student contracts to provide bus service for Fort Zumwalt and Francis Howell. Fort Zumwalt drivers have been on strike since Oct. 1, and Francis Howell drivers have been on strike since Oct. 10. At issue is pay.

The strike kept a few Columbia students home. At Shepard Boulevard Elementary School, as many as 25 students might have missed class because of the strike, officials said. Parkade Elementary School officials believed 15 absences might have been attributable to the lack of buses.

Columbia school officials say they don't know how long drivers there will remain off the job.