For Cumberland County Schools bus mechanic Robert “Tilly” Vantilburg, the clock starts ticking when the morning routes end.
Once buses return, mechanics have about three to four hours before those same buses must head back out for afternoon routes. In that window, Vantilburg said, they are expected to complete scheduled maintenance, make unexpected repairs, and perform mechanical inspections required by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.
Vantilburg is one of three mechanics assigned to the Seventy-First and Westover areas. He is responsible for maintaining 38 buses. And lately, he said, those three to four hours have not felt like enough.
“We simply do not have enough time to properly complete everything on the number of buses that are assigned to us,” Vantilburg said.
He said the workload sometimes forces mechanics to prioritize problems that could take a bus out of service over less serious issues—things he ordinarily would not want to leave unresolved.
“Sometimes mechanics have to let the small things go that we normally wouldn’t let go,” Vantilburg said.
But what worries Vantilburg most is the possibility of missing something that could put children at risk.
That fear brought him before the Cumberland County Board of Education on September 8.
Vantilburg leaned over the podium as he spoke, his voice trembling. His wife sat behind him. (Watch the video below.)
“I should not have to worry that I cannot do my job to the standards that I know should be done because I am stretched too thin,” Vantilburg told board members.
Then he told them what he had decided: He’s resigning, effective September 18, ending a job he said he once hoped to keep until retirement.
Groans could be heard around the boardroom.
“This is not because I stopped caring about my job,” Vantilburg said, his voice breaking. “It’s actually because I care too much.”
“I do not want to take the chance of missing something because I do not have the time to do my job properly and hurt somebody’s children.”
Vantilburg also told board members he knew of at least three other mechanics who were looking for other jobs because they were unhappy with management and working conditions. Each mechanic who leaves, he said, adds more work for those who remain.
More than a week after Vantilburg spoke, his resignation still stands.
“As of right now, Tilly’s last day is still Friday,” his wife, Amy Tilly, told CityView. “He has not withdrawn his resignation, and no one has formally asked him to reconsider or discuss an arrangement for him to stay.”
But Vantilburg is not alone in raising concerns about the transportation department.
Two former longtime transportation employees told CityView the concerns he described sounded familiar—and, according to them, had been building for years.
‘Leadership Needs to Change’
When Sharon Lewis watched Vantilburg address the school board, parts of his story sounded familiar.
Lewis worked for Cumberland County Schools for 33 years, including about 12 years as a lead driver for Exceptional Children transportation, where she said she supervised 22 buses. She later returned as a part-time driver but decided not to return this school year.
Lewis remembers an earlier version of the transportation department differently.
“Before, things were good, and good morale,” Lewis said. “We’d get together, have dinners and lunches and stuff like that, and most importantly buses ran.”
She said that began to change after new management arrived around 2022.
For Lewis, the problem was not simply disagreement with management decisions. She described a workplace where she felt longtime employees were increasingly talked down to, overlooked for advancement, and moved between assignments after questioning decisions or raising concerns.
Lewis said veteran employees with decades of experience watched as others with less experience were hired or promoted into higher-paying supervisory positions. She also described driver reassignments that she and others viewed as a form of punishment.
Lewis said she experienced that herself when she was moved from an assignment after years of working in Exceptional Children transportation.
What troubled her most, she said, was that changing drivers did not affect only the employee. Students with disabilities could spend years getting accustomed to the same drivers, routines, and expectations.
“You’re not hurting me,” Lewis said of being reassigned. “You’re hurting the kids.”
Lewis said she also tried to bring documented concerns to management, including arriving at one meeting with paperwork outlining issues she wanted addressed. She left feeling that management had not listened to what she had to say.
Over time, Lewis said, some employees became reluctant to speak up, while others began looking for jobs elsewhere.
“People were leaving left and right, and people are still even trying to find jobs that I know,” Lewis said.
Lewis eventually left her supervisory position. When she later returned as a part-time driver, she said many of the longtime transportation employees she remembered were gone.
“When I came back, all the mechanics that were there that I knew were gone,” Lewis said. “Everybody was new. Everybody in the office was new.”
“It’s bad when you don’t want to go to work,” Lewis said. “Before, I used to just love going to work, because I loved my job and I loved my kids.”
Asked what she believes needs to change in the department, Lewis did not hesitate.
“Leadership,” she said. “The leadership needs to change.”
Vantilburg speaking publicly, Lewis said, has made others more willing to talk about experiences they previously kept among themselves.
“I’m glad somebody stood up,” Lewis said. “Tilly spoke out for everybody, and now we are all telling our stories.”
‘It’s Been a Long Time Coming’
For years, Deborah Zeiber had a close-up view of what it took to keep Cumberland County Schools’ buses on the road.
During her 28 years with the district, Zeiber worked in several areas of transportation, including general and special-needs routing and, later, the bus garage parts department. There, she tracked parts used on buses, which buses they went on, and the labor associated with maintenance work.
From that vantage point, Zeiber said she watched many of the same pressures Vantilburg described build over time.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Zeiber said. “We have tried for four years to speak with someone, to be heard, to voice our opinions, voice our grievances.”
Zeiber said veteran employees increasingly felt their experience was undervalued. She described longtime workers watching people with less experience receive promotions or higher-paying positions, while employees who had spent decades in transportation felt overlooked.
She also described a workplace where employees felt talked down to or pushed around and where, she said, raising concerns could make employees fear they would be treated differently afterward.
Zeiber said she eventually took her concerns to human resources but felt nothing changed.
“Nothing happened,” she said. “Nothing.”
Afterward, Zeiber said she felt she was treated differently at work and became increasingly uncomfortable.
“I had a target on my back after that,” she said. “I couldn’t even relax.”
Zeiber eventually retired earlier than she planned.
“I didn’t want to leave,” Zeiber said. “It was wearing me down.”
Zeiber’s concerns also extended directly to the mechanics. She watched as vacancies increased workloads for those who remained and saw mechanics struggle at times to obtain parts they needed.
“It was disheartening to see the lack of mechanics, the workload put on the guys, and the inability to get parts when they need them,” Zeiber said. “You can’t give a mechanic 38 or even 40 buses to take care of by themselves—there is no way.”
She said some parts that previously would have been kept on hand instead had to be ordered, which she said could delay repairs.
“These guys are often running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to get the inspections done, fix the things that were breaking,” Zeiber said.
For Zeiber, addressing the problems requires both more resources and a different relationship between management and employees.
“They need mechanics hired—mechanics that know what they’re doing—to take care of these buses, to get the workload down,” Zeiber said. “They need parts that are readily available.”
But for Zeiber, the problems were not only about staffing and parts. She said employees also wanted to feel heard—particularly longtime workers who had spent years learning the transportation operation and believed that experience was increasingly being overlooked.
Leadership, she said, needs to “work with people, not work at people.”
What Happens Next
The public response to Vantilburg’s remarks began almost immediately.
On September 9, parent Toni Stewart launched a petition, “Behind Every Bus: Support Our CCS Mechanics,” calling for an independent review of the transportation department and greater attention to mechanic staffing, workloads, safety, and working conditions. It received 416 signatures as of Thursday.
On September 11, Cumberland County Schools announced it hired Raleigh-based law firm Tharrington Smith LLP to investigate “personnel, management and safety practices,” as well as operating conditions within the department.
“We want our families and employees to know that CCS is listening and taking responsible action,” Superintendent Eric Bracy said. “Our transportation procedures are guided by state standards, and this external review will provide an additional, objective assessment of our practices.”
In announcing the review, the district also outlined its existing safety procedures. Buses undergo required 30-day inspections, and drivers are directed to report issues identified before, during, and after routes. Maintenance personnel are responsible for assessing and documenting those reports.
The district said a bus with an out-of-service condition is not authorized to transport students until required repairs are completed. If those repairs cannot be finished before the bus’s next route, a spare bus is assigned.
The district also said five of its 20 bus mechanic positions remain vacant. A new hire and promotion recently filled two of the 15 positions. Cumberland County Schools operates a fleet of 482 buses and said filling transportation vacancies remains a top priority.
The district has not said how long the investigation will take or when its findings will be publicly released.
For Zeiber, the attention now focused on transportation comes after years of what she described as unsuccessful attempts by employees to get their concerns heard.
“I feel like Tilly opened a dam,” Zeiber said. “And now you’re hearing it.”
