Bus drivers walk out of Carmel Clay Schools Board meeting while trustees discuss driver pay increase

CARMEL, Ind. - A group of school bus drivers walked out of a Carmel Clay Schools Board meeting on Monday night.




During the meeting, the board discussed pay increases for its bus drivers and a plan to replace its aging buses.




According to the board's agenda, the district previously approved a 2% pay increase for all of its employees - excluding bus drivers and teachers. At Monday's meeting, the board approved a plan to increase pay for bus drivers by 2%.




"I want to say that I appreciate our bus drivers and everything they do for us," said Dr. Thomas Oestreich, Carmel Clay Schools Superintendent. "We provided a 2% salary increase to our bus drivers, which is the same that we provided for all other employees at this time. Additionally, we are transitioning their benefits and salary schedule to a document consistent with all other employees in the district.




"And it's very important to us that we continue to meaningfully discuss with our bus drivers. And so we have a process moving forward where we're going to meet with all 15 of our lead drivers with our director of transportation, Mr. Gary Clevenger. Their feedback is very important to us, and we will continue to listen to our bus drivers' needs."




The bus drivers who attended Monday's meeting left the board room when trustees approved the 2% pay increase for drivers.




Mary Swing said some drivers walked out of the meeting because they were upset about the district's failure to recognize the association that represents them, not necessarily the pay increase itself. Swing is the current president of the association that represents Carmel Clay Schools bus drivers. She said her drivers want the district to recognize their association in a fashion similar to that of the teachers union that represents Carmel Clay Schools teachers.




"We wanted to be recognized, the association to be recognized as the bridge between the drivers and the administration," said Swing. "We wanted to be able to have a vote. And tonight, it didn't happen. The board of trustees went along with administration to give us a benefits package, and it's disappointing. We no longer have a vote in our wages and work safety."




The benefits package Carmel Clay Schools is offering its drivers includes a switch from a "minimum hours paid" model of payment to a stipend model. The board indicated that the stipend model will be less cumbersome to deal with under Carmel Clay Schools' new work time and attendance software.




Under the district's new benefits guide, a driver's minimum daily rate would jump from $127.50 to $130.25. The benefits guide also indicates drivers can earn higher daily rates depending on what type of routes they take. For example, drivers earn more for taking three-tiered routes rather than two-tiered routes.




Per Carmel Clay Schools' new bus driver benefits guide, drivers can also make money for taking on extra assignments like driving students to extracurricular events or picking up extra routes.




Under the new benefits model, drivers will get a stipend for an hour of work or less. If drivers work more than an hour on extra assignments, they're paid an hourly rate.




Additional benefits related to pay are available to drivers who take field trips or pick up foster students who are placed more than five miles outside Carmel Clay Schools' district boundaries.




Carmel Clay Schools' benefits guides also shows that bus drivers will get additional benefits like sick time, personal days, bereavement leave and life insurance. Drivers can also earn bonuses via the district's attendance incentive program.




Swing said that the bus drivers' association had reached a deal of sorts with Carmel Clay Schools' administration related to drivers' benefits and pay.




"We did come to an agreement, whether they wanted to admit it or not," Swing said. "The only thing we didn't agree upon was them to push through that they wanted to basically dissolve our association and not recognize us as a collective, collaborating bargaining group just like the teachers are. Again, it's a huge disappointment for all of the Carmel Clay bus drivers."




Swing added that the district's alleged inclination to dissolve the bus drivers' association has left drivers feeling like Carmel Clay Schools administrators aren't hearing their concerns.




"They say that they want to recognize us and that they want to want to hear us," Swing said. "But they didn't hear us. They didn't hear us the last school board meeting, and they certainly didn't hear us tonight. Because if they did, then they would've been able to allow us to continue to bargain and negotiate on our agreement. I'm just very, very upset."




Previous reporting indicates that Carmel Clay Schools has faced a bus driver shortage in recent years. In 2021, the shortage prompted the district to implement "No-Bus Zones" for students who live within a one-mile radius of a Carmel Clay Schools building. The policy forced students to find their own way to school if they live too close to a CCS building.




"I haven't worked a four-hour day since COVID," Swing said. "A driver described our day as being a 10-hour day with a four-hour lunch break because we do work split shifts. And ever since COVID, because of the shortage of drivers we had, we didn't have enough drivers to cover elementary school, middle school and high school. We had to become three-tiered routes. Ninety-five percent of our drivers work a three-tiered route.




"Our wages for that three-tiered route haven't been changed in four years. I'm not going to say that I'm underpaid or I'm overpaid. I just want what's fair for the rest of my drivers. Not just for me, but for the rest of my drivers."




Additional reports indicate that the district and Carmel Police Department work together to help get students in "No-Bus Zones" to school safely.




"We are always looking to hire more bus drivers and substitute teachers and instructional assistants," Oestreich said. "We continue to make gains, but certainly, our bus drivers then retire. So, we're continuing to fill that pool, so to speak. So, for anyone who's interested in driving a bus, we do have one of the highest daily rates in the area at $187, approximately, per day. Some of the other districts around us are around are at about $135 to $140.




"So, anybody who is interested in driving a bus for Carmel Clay Schools, you can contact Mr. Gary Clevenger at (317) 844-9961. And he would be happy to get anyone more information about driving a bus."




The bus replacement plan the district discussed at Monday's board meeting indicates that Carmel Clay Schools will replace 12 buses between 2026 and 2030. The total cost to replace the buses is estimated to be around $2.63 million, as each bus costs around $222,000 to replace.




The school district indicated that its bus replacement policy is based on "the presumption that the minimum useful life of a school bus is not less than 12 years."





via: https://fox59.com/news/bus-drivers-walk-out-of-carmel-clay-schools-board-meeting-while-trustees-discuss-driver-pay-increases-bus-replacement-plan/