MCSD board approves bus driver incentives; Myers, Thomas contend package not enough

After last month’s rejection of a proposal that would have increased a starting bus driver’s salary by 16 percent, the Muscogee County School Board voted Monday night on an alternative plan to address complaints about drivers being too few and buses being too late and overcrowded.

In a 7-2 vote, the board approved the administration’s recommendation, revised slightly by the approved amendment suggested by Mark Cantrell of District 6:

▪ $500 referral bonus for a candidate without a commercial driver’s license who completes training and works full time for six months. Cantrell’s amendment increased the administration’s recommendation from $300.

▪ $800 referral bonus for a candidate with a CDL who completes bus driver training and works full time for six months. Cantrell’s amendment increased the administration’s recommendation from $500.

▪ Add 12 bus monitors for special-education routes.

▪ Add 12 floating monitors for higher incident regular routes, moving the monitors as issues are resolved.

▪ Establish an accident avoidance performance incentive. Provide team bonus to all members of the zone that has the lowest number of accidents, $200 for lowest number of incidents and $300 if that number is zero.

▪ Establish an enterprise fund for bus driver apparel and additional recognition. Revenue would come from recycled oil, scrap metal and stop-arm camera fines.

So the administration’s recommendation calls for adding 24 bus monitors ($458,233) and referral bonuses and incentives ($71,000) but no salary schedule increase for a total impact on this year’s budget of $529,233.

John Thomas of District 2 and Frank Myers of District 8 cast the no votes.

Thomas, Myers and Vanessa Jackson of District 3 have called for pay increases as well as incentives in the proposals they submitted or advocated for this month and last month.

MCSD bus drivers’ current minimum salary is $14.66 per hour. MCSD regular-education bus drivers can earn as much as $18.56 per hour with 30 years of experience and a commercial driver’s license. The rate for special-education bus drivers ranges from $16.16 to $20.47.

The administration’s recommendation leaves the bus driver salaries “untouched,” Thomas emphasized. “For that reason, I do not support it.”

Myers also contends the recommendation doesn’t address the problem.

“John’s plan and Vanessa’s follow-up were far from perfect, but it addressed the key issue, which is compensation to bus drivers now,” Myers said. “You only retain people if they think you appreciate them. We have not shown any love to the bus drivers in years. … These bus drivers deserve better, and these kids deserve better.”

Myers added, “Instead of fixing the problem, we put little Band-Aids on it here and there. There’s a leadership issue that needs to be addressed. I don’t see it happening with this board tonight. But somebody still needs to talk about it. As long as I’m here, I’m going to talk about it.”

During the public agenda, MCSD bus driver Russell Chambers spoke to the board. He read aloud a quote from himself in a February 2015 Ledger-Enquirer article about a public meeting in which drivers demanded better pay and benefits:

“I believe in years to come,” Chambers said then, when drivers hadn’t received a raise in eight years, “if you continue to decrease the pay, you will have less qualified drivers and you will have a lot of problems in the future.”

Chambers added Monday night, “Now, here we are.”

But the administration insists the facts don’t support such criticism. In fact, said MCSD human resources chief Kathy Tessin, the drivers have received an average increase in their compensation of 9 percent during the past two years.

In an analysis attached to the agenda, the administration noted MCSD’s bus driver shortage was five positions as of Oct. 4, down from 17 last month, out of 217 positions. This compares to eight vacant paraprofessional positions, 12 vacancies in skilled maintenance, 26 special-education teaching vacancies and more than 40 food-service vacancies, which MCSD is meeting through contracted services as it continues to recruit and hire, the analysis says.

“The data MCSD administration receives through the MCSD Exit Survey, and anecdotal reasons why bus drivers resign, indicate that frustrations with student and parent behavior, and job conditions including dated buses, are more prevalent reasons for leaving the position than inadequate pay,” the analysis says. “Our Bus Driver Advisory Committee was convened to pose this question, and the response was overwhelming that increasing new bus driver pay this rapidly was not supported and an insult to longer term drivers. The incentives proposed from administration were a few of the suggestions that came from drivers.”

Instead, the administration urged the board to honor the step increases in new salary structure it approved in 2016 for jobs not classified in the Georgia Teacher Salary Schedule “and to continue to make the commitment to move the entire schedule as economic conditions warrant.”

Laurie McRae of District 5 said she doesn’t support adjusting salaries in the middle of a budget year, but she called for the administration to “continue to look at” the salaries as it prepares next fiscal year’s budget.

Cathy Williams of District 7 interjected, “And that’s not just for bus drivers, right? For all support personnel.”

That irked Myers.

“Here we are changing subject to other employees,” Myers said. “There is a crisis in the transportation system, and I just don’t understand why everybody can’t just say, ‘Well, you know what? It is a crisis.’ We’re leaving little kids on the side of the road. We’re not getting them picked up. They’re missing instructional time.”

Williams asked, “Are we leaving any little kids on the side of the road?”

“No, ma’am,” said MCSD operations chief David Goldberg.

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272, @MarkRiceLE.

This story was originally published October 15, 2018 at 8:59 PM.