Fayette school board approves pay raises to lure more substitute drivers, teachers.

The Fayette County Public Schools board on Monday unanimously approved increased pay for substitute school bus drivers, cafeteria workers and teachers amid critical shortages.

Pay for substitute bus drivers will increase from $17.76 to $30 per hour; substitute bus monitors from $10 to $15 per hour; substitute cafeteria workers from $12 to $15 an hour.

Substitute teachers aides, custodians, and secretaries were all raised from the $12 range to $15 per hour.

Substitute after school program workers also got a raise from $14. 70 to $15 per hour.

All substitute teachers except for retired teachers will get a $25 per day raise. Retired teachers who substitute will get a $15 per day raise.

Substitute drivers don’t get the benefits, leave time, or set routes current drivers do, district officials said. Current drivers and other current employees received a recent two percent raise.

Some will receive additional incentives in a package approved Monday by the school board, such as a $1 per hour increase for hourly food service and transportation employees.

As the pandemic re-intensifies, dozens of Fayette bus routes have been canceled or delayed every school day. Cafeterias are shorthanded - down more than 100 positions one day last week. In at least one other Kentucky district, a shortage of substitute teachers has shut down schools.

“All these staff members are vital to our team and to the work that we do in our district,” Fayette school board chairman Tyler Murphy said in a social media post before the meeting.

Murphy said Superintendent Demetrus Liggins’ team has been working on the significant staffing shortages.

“The acceleration in cases and quarantines fueled by the Delta variant is presenting obstacles that we could not anticipate just a few short weeks ago,” Liggins said in a message to employees Friday.

“Many of you are scared, and I understand your fear. Some of you are tired, and I appreciate your exhaustion. Most of you are frustrated, and I can definitely relate,” Liggins said. “We were all so prepared to move forward this school year, resume a sense of normalcy, and put this pandemic behind us. We now realize this is not going to happen.”

“I see the toll it is taking on our students, families, and staff even as we are still in our first 12 days of school,” Liggins wrote.

Murphy said there was no quick fix and the district was working on short-term and long-term solutions.

“I hear you, I see you and you are not alone, “ Liggins said in the message to employees.

Many Kentucky school districts are in crisis, with students and staff testing positive and hundreds quarantined every day.

At a Beattyville elementary school, an instructional aide died from COVID Sunday and three of her co-workers remained hospitalized. Two were on ventilators Sunday.

At least 16 school districts have shut down for various periods this school year.

A new state law passed by the General Assembly in 2021 aimed at forcing districts to provide in-person learning has hamstrung superintendents who feel they need to close buildings.

On Monday, a special legislative meeting on educational issues related to COVID-19 was called for Wednesday in Frankfort.

This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 1:17 PM.