ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 16, 1996 TAG: 9610160030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
After getting a predicted "Sorry, we can't help you" response from the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Botetourt County's dissatisfied school bus drivers appear uncertain about what to do next.
Some favor hiring a lawyer to advise them, while others are ready to resign.
Richard Ronk said the School Board should be given an ultimatum: Drivers will start resigning if their concerns about pay and benefits are not addressed within two weeks.
''I think that's what we're going to have to do to get any satisfaction," he said. School systems nationwide are short on drivers this year. Botetourt School Transportation Supervisor Larry Hall had to work as an aide on a handicapped bus Monday, and mechanics and the department secretary have had to fill in as drivers.
If five drivers quit, "that's enough to put them in a bind," said a fed-up Judy Gross.
With a new school and all new bus routes, many of the drivers are doing twice the work as last year, but with minimal pay raises. Drivers also want the same free health insurance other school employees get. Drivers pay half the cost of their coverage.
"We knew what we were going to be told this morning," Gross said after the meeting, but it was worth addressing the board to let them know what the problems are.
The supervisors, however, are powerless to help the drivers unless the School Board asks, and the School Board doesn't plan to ask until it puts in its budget request for next year.
But even if the School Board did ask, they probably wouldn't get anything. At least three supervisors have said they would oppose giving the schools more money, especially after appropriating an additional $300,000 to them last month to hire more teachers.
"I don't think it would be considered at this time," Chairman Bill Loope said. The supervisors are not just passing the buck, he said. This is the School Board's problem, and it should take care of it.
Fincastle District Supervisor Bonnie Mayo told the drivers that during the budget process last spring, the School Board never mentioned the extra work that would be required of the drivers. If the supervisors had known about it, it might have made a difference in how much money the school system got.
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