School traffic rush will be two hours delayed on Friday, May 22, as school staff strike for the first time in 15 years.
All ACT public schools will be closed until 10.30am on Friday as the directorate anticipates high union membership means there will not be enough staff available to supervise all students safely.
Education director-general Jo Wood said there was not enough time for Transport Canberra to make changes to school bus arrangements.
School buses will run as normal in the morning and afternoon and there will not be additional arrangements made to help students get to school at 10.30am.
This includes for the specialist school, which has been working with the government on "plan B" arrangements after a number of school closures over the past 12 months.
Each school has communicated with parents about the individual arrangements for the 10.30 drop-off time.
In a letter seen by The Canberra Times, one school warned it would be busier than normal because most students would be dropped off by car.
Some before-school care providers have been able to extend their hours to cover students until school opens.
The teachers' union warned in March staff would consider strike action after raising concerns about the education directorate's lack of progress to address their log of claims.
The teachers are fighting for "real-terms wage growth", improved pay and conditions for experienced staff, a guaranteed minimum staffing structure, better teacher absence management and a review into the student resource allocation.
Ms Wood said the directorate was working through the log of claims but some of the items were "complex".
She said some of the claims needed to be dealt with in the whole of government agreement while others were specific to education.
"We need to make sure those things are connected and consistent, so it is just a complex process that we're working through," she said.
Ms Wood said the directorate had been meeting with the union weekly to discuss claims.
