Highland District 5 bus drivers continue to receive salaries amid coronavirus pandemic
Highland will continue to pay First Student for its bus drivers’ salaries while schools are closed, after a vote by the school board last week.
Like all schools and other public entities, Highland District 5 has been seeking ways to cope with the statewide shelter in place order and school closure.
“We went from considering whether to keep our field trips to the City Museum and Six Flags ... to complete shutdown,” said Superintendent Mike Sutton.
Sutton told the school board March 23 in a teleconferenced meeting that First Student, the contracted company that provides the district’s busing, had asked them to keep paying on their contract in an amount sufficient to keep bus drivers on salary. The bus company, which provides busing services for many schools in the area, was not asking enough for their profit, but to cover base costs and salaries, Sutton said.
A similar discussion concerned continuing to pay Ceres, the company that provides food service for District 5.
“It’s already difficult enough to attract people to work in food service and transportation,” Sutton said.
He said he was concerned if the employees were not paid, they would go in search of other jobs and the district would find themselves severely short when classes resume, whether that is later in the spring or next fall.
One board member said First Student is a multi-national corporation and should be able to pay its employees.
“I want to try to take care of people as much as we can,” said board member Joe Mott. “But in this particular case, why is it our problem to whether they retain employees?”
However, another board member pointed that since the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting every school district, if everyone stops paying, First Student would likely go out of business.
The cost for First Student’s contract to the end of the year is approximately $400,000, and $95,000 for the cafeteria workers. The board voted in favor of continuing payments until termination by the board or resumption of classes.
Districts providing sack meals, employees getting paid
The district has continued to provide sack meals for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch, with several days’ food provided twice a week. Right now, Sutton said, the food is being delivered to distribution points throughout the district by volunteers who ordinarily do this kind of work in the summer when schools are closed.
Sutton said he hopes the bus drivers might be able to take cover that task, giving the volunteers time to rest before summer comes and they must take up the job again.
In the meantime, all employee salaries and stipends are being paid while teachers are working from home and “doing the absolute best we can to engage students,” Sutton said. “We are taking this very seriously and fulfilling the obligation to engage kids.”
In addition, Sutton reported the district has donated medical supplies and thermometers from the schools’ storage to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Highland.
“The good people of Highland are stepping up to make this thing work,” Sutton said.