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The Limestone County Schools bus driver shortage could be nearing an end, with almost 50 people appearing at an informational meeting Monday and changes in pay being approved Tuesday.

Rusty Bates, director of transportation for the district, said 47 people attended his informational meeting Monday at the Limestone County Schools central office. The meeting went over how to become a bus driver and what it’s like to work with the district.

“We have a lot of interest,” Bates said Tuesday at the Limestone County Board of Education meeting. “Of those 47, I had about five from other systems who were very interested in leaving their current system to come be with us.”

He said talk of policy and pay changes contributed to the success of the meeting. During last week’s work session, board members discussed increasing pay rates to $15 per hour for bus drivers on field trips and $70 per day ($35 per morning or afternoon route) for substitute drivers.

On Tuesday, both proposals were approved. The substitute pay increase will go into effect at the start of next school year, while the field trip pay was effective immediately.

“What y’all did tonight will go a long way,” said Bates. “Just talk of this has piqued interest.”

Also piquing interest was the “coach driver” policy, or a policy requiring each sport or activity group using buses as transportation to have a a coach, volunteer, parent or sponsor obtain an active commercial driver’s license.

“This is for backup purposes only,” Superintendent Tom Sisk said. “… This is to avoid what happened to us this year, where a band was left at home because we did not have adequate drivers.”

In that case, a bus and assigned driver were made available to the Elkmont High School band, but the driver had to cancel last-minute, leaving no one to transport the band. Under the policy approved Tuesday, one backup driver will be required for each bus requested to take students to or from a school event.

A bus with an assigned driver employed by the district would still be provided, but in the event a driver cancels, the backup driver would be available to transport the group to their event. The policy will roll out over the next two years, allowing groups to identify and train their backup drivers.

Travel

Sisk provided documents related to travel expenses to The News Courier and board members at Tuesday’s meeting. In going over the analysis, Sisk noted the district averaged around two-tenths of a percent of the budget.

He explained the most expensive years were “at the height of construction projects” and said LCS was “well within and under in some respects” when compared to expenses of other school districts.

As of Wednesday, these claims had not been independently verified by The News Courier.

Personnel

The following personnel actions were approved Tuesday:

• Rebekah Raymond, extended day teacher, Creekside Elementary School/Creekside Primary School, paid $12 per hour not to exceed $4,000, retroactive to Dec. 10, 2018, through May 24;

• Tiffany Senyri, parent mileage for transportation for student who must attend school outside of normal school zone, paid total daily round trip mileage not to exceed $3,000 total, retroactive to Dec. 10, 2018, through May 24;

• Casie Barksdale, homeless education, paid $27 per hour for 250 hours, not to exceed $6,750, effective Jan. 16 through Aug. 31;

• Bernice Lockett, intervention teacher, Sugar Creek Elementary School, increase of pay from $12 per hour to $27 per hour due to receipt of valid teaching certificate, not to exceed $6,122, effective Jan. 16 through Aug. 30;

• Barry Pugh, retiring from positions of physical education teacher and designated AP only, Elkmont Elementary School, effective Feb. 1;

• Jesse Gates, Cedar Hill Elementary School custodian, retiring effective March 1;

• Laura Christopher, Tanner High School instructional assistant, resigning retroactive to Dec. 21, 2018;

• Louise Campbell, resigning from the position of Creekside Elementary School Scholars’ Bowl Sponsor only, effective Jan. 16;

• Jennifer Smith, English language intervention assistant, resigning retroactive to Jan. 8;

• Toby McCurry, maintenance technician, resigning effective Jan. 18;

• Jeanna Kennedy, bus driver, resigning retroactive to Dec. 31, 2018;

• Kimberly Wright, bus driver, resigning effective Jan. 18;

• Jennifer Jeffreys, Tanner High School Child Nutrition Program worker, resigning effective Jan. 25;

• Sharon Reynolds, Tanner High School nurse, resigning retroactive Oct. 30, 2018;

• Hannah Roberts, Piney Chapel Elementary School EL instructional assistant, resigning effective Jan. 25;

• Louise Campbell, elementary teacher, transferring from Creekside Elementary to Elkmont Elementary, replacing Rebecca Bailey effective Jan. 16;

• Danny Gatlin, bus driver, transferring from Creekside Elementary to Tanner High, replacing Richard Baldwin effective Jan. 16;

• Frances Brown, transferring from Tanner High bus aide to Creekside Elementary utility driver, replacing Ricky Roden effective Jan. 16;

• Michelle Jenkins, transferring from Johnson Elementary bus aide to Creekside Elementary bus driver, replacing Kimberly Wright effective Jan. 16;

• Thomas Dockery, transferring from LCS utility driver to East Limestone High bus driver, replacing Karen Brewer effective Jan. 16;

• Timothy Thornton, transferring from Cardinal School bus aide to Creekside Elementary bus driver, replacing Danny Gatlin effective Jan. 16;

• Tracy Jackson, bus driver, transferring from Creekside Elementary to West Limestone High, effective Jan. 16;

• Kyle Shoulders, hired as East Limestone High agriscience teacher to replace John Kincer, retroactive to Jan. 2;

• Wesley Walker, hired as Tanner High School instructional assistant to replace Laura Christopher, effective Jan. 16;

• Christie Brown, hired as Clements High School/Blue Springs Elementary School bus driver to replace Jeanna Kennedy, effective Jan. 16;

• Jeremy Lane, hired as LCS bus driver to replace Mary Norman, effective Jan. 16;

• Landon Stephens, hired as Elkmont Elementary School physical education teacher to replace Barry Pugh, effective Feb. 1;

• Debbie Mann, hired as bus driver to replace Sandra Pylant, effective Jan. 16;

• Kevin Marsh, hired as LCS utility driver to replace Thomas Dockery, effective Jan. 16;

• Steven Curtis, hired as Creekside Elementary bus driver to replace Tracy Jackson, effective Jan. 16;

• Brad Newton, hired as Clements High School principal to replace Keith Hairrell, effective Jan. 28;

• Heather Gough, WLHS teacher, leave of absence extended retroactive to Jan. 2 through Feb. 1 under Family Medical Leave Act;

• April Graviet, CHES teacher, intermittent leave of absence retroactive to Nov. 24, 2018, through Feb. 18;

• Kristi Minor, Ardmore High counselor clerk, leave of absence retroactive to Nov. 29, 2018, through Dec. 20, 2018, under FMLA;

• Lonnie Shoulders, bus driver, leave of absence retroactive Oct. 29, 2019 through Jan. 14;

• Judith Blakely, Tanner Elementary bus driver, leave of absence retroactive to Nov. 28, 2018, through Jan. 25;

• Karen White, West Limestone High CNP worker, extension of leave of absence Jan. 9 through Feb. 7;

• Paul Castrejon, supplement non-employee assistant girls soccer coach at Tanner High, effective Jan. 12 through May 24;

• Rita Schrimsher, supplement LCS Scholars’ Bowl coordinator to replace Elaine Lauderdale, paid $1,000, effective Jan. 16 through April 30;

• Gloria McNeil, supplement designated AP at Elkmont Elementary to replace Barry Pugh, effective Feb. 1;

• Michael Hobbs, supplement Scholars’ Bowl coach at Sugar Creek Elementary, to be paid $500, effective the 2018-2019 school year;

• Bernice Young, supplement elementary yearbook sponsor at Sugar Creek Elementary, to be paid $1,000, effective the 2018-2019 school year;

• Tammy Britton, supplement National Elementary Honor Society sponsor at Sugar Creek Elementary, to be paid $1,000, effective the 2018-2019 school year;

• Stipends of $125 per day to be paid to three 21st Century personnel that attended the AL21 CCLC Professional Development retroactive to Oct. 21, 2018, to be paid with 21st CCLC funds;

• Approval of stipends for the 2018-2019 Mentors for First Year/Beginning Teachers, paid through the Alabama State Department of Education;

• Kathleen Smith, non-employee assistant basketball coach at East Limestone High, locally paid $2,500, retroactive Sept. 1, 2018 through July 31;

• Reid Newton, non-employee volunteer assistant football coach at Clements High, effective Jan. 16 through May 30;

• Mary Jo Yarbrough, girls assistant soccer coach (classified employee), effective the 2018-2019 school year; and

• Michael Fogg, non-employee assistant baseball coach at Ardmore High, paid $1,500, effective the 2018-2019 school year.

Other business

In other business, the board approved the following items:

• Auction of an old bathroom portable building at Creekside on GovDeals;

• Renewal of Renaissance/Accelerated Reading literacy program at a cost of $86,428.66;

• PowerSchool contract for maintenance and support of iNOW attendance software at a cost of $36,639.63;

• Purchase of a new windscreen and advertising banners at a cost of $16,201.40 using funds raised through banner sales by the East Limestone High baseball team from local community businesses;

• Elkmont Elementary’s purchase of a CM1800 Platinum Package with cutout maker and design center at a cost of $9,170;

• Contract with Alabama Supercomputer at no cost to the district; and

• Contract for CSFO Kim Hubbard.