ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 11, 1996 TAG: 9610110073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
ABOUT 20 SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS addressed the Botetourt County School Board Thursday night, saying they're tired of being at the bottom.
On the human body, Richard Ronk told the Botetourt County School Board Thursday night, the feet are on the bottom.
"And when you look at the [school system's] salary scale, the bus drivers are on the bottom. We're the feet, and we're carrying the load."
"Amen," shouted someone in the crowd.
"Now, if you don't take care of your feet," Ronk continued, "they're going to get tired, and they're going to cause you a lot of pain. These feet are tired, and they want to be compensated."
Ronk was one of about 20 Botetourt school bus drivers to address the board while a good many more of the 60 employed by the county and about a dozen parents stood by in support.
Last week, 42 drivers delivered their children and threatened not to pick them up if their demands weren't granted, but the walkout was averted after the drivers met with their supervisor, Larry Hall. Thursday night, they restated their demands to the board, which included:
*Reinstatement of seniority raises, which for all noninstructional school employees in the county have been frozen for eight of the last nine years.
*Pay for "deadhead time," or time spent driving to and from routes and schools with no children on the bus.
*The same insurance other school system employees get at the same cost - free.
*Field trip pay in line with what surrounding school systems pay.
But the board effectively told them to put up with their sore feet for the rest of the year.
"The budget committee will start meeting for next year in December," Chairman Jim Ruhland said. He said he shared the drivers' concerns and appreciated their professionalism, but made no offer to fix any of their woes any time soon.
None of the other board members spoke.
The apparent brushoff by the board left the drivers angry. They now plan to take their cause to the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, if they can get on the agenda.
"They had their minds made up before we even got up and spoke," said Becky Ballard, a driver for 22 years.
Ballard and others don't buy the argument that there's no money for them this year, since just last month the School Board jumped to the aid of teachers and parents complaining of overcrowded classrooms.
They requested more money from the Board of Supervisors and got $318,064 to hire four teachers and several aides and guidance counselors.
Meanwhile, the drivers say they are doing more work for less pay. Botetourt opened a new school this year and converted to a middle school system, which meant revamping 20-year-old bus routes.
Hall, the transportation supervisor, told the board he sympathizes with the drivers. He's trying to get more children delivered to more schools with the same number of buses and drivers he had last year.
That means the drivers are spending more time on the road, much of it deadhead time, for which they are not paid.
Unlike other Roanoke Valley school systems, which pay their drivers by the hour, Botetourt pays its drivers based on a combination of road time and mileage. Drivers are paid from when they pick up their first child, and not for the time they spend doing safety checks and fueling the buses.
With top pay at better than $11,000 a year, Botetourt's drivers can make as much as or more money than drivers in nearby systems. Roanoke and Roanoke County pay tops out at less than $9,000 a year.
But drivers in those systems get paid for holidays and required safety meetings. Botetourt's drivers do not.
For field trips, Botetourt's drivers get $4.75 an hour; drivers in Roanoke and Roanoke County get $6.50 an hour or more.
Drivers in other systems also get the same health insurance plan at the same cost as other school employees. Most Botetourt school employees get Blue Cross coverage at no cost to them, but the drivers are insured by a different company and pay half the cost.
"What we try to do is treat our school bus drivers the same as all other school employees," said Chauncey Logan, head of transportation for Roanoke's schools.
That's exactly what the Botetourt drivers say they want.
And thanks to a shortage in drivers nationwide this year - in Botetourt, mechanics and a secretary have been filling in on routes - they may be in a position to get it.
A strike would be illegal, but at least one driver has said he will resign if he doesn't get some satisfaction.
"Every year, we are told there are people standing around on street corners waiting to be bus drivers," Becky Ballard told the board. "Well, for some reason, they just didn't come out this year."
LENGTH: Medium: 91 linesby CNB