Relief bus drivers in Fayette get stipends; vaccinated school employees get $200

The Fayette County Public Schools board on Monday approved a new plan to address the transportation worker shortage, saying it will allow parents to plan ahead for route cancellations.

A nationwide bus driver shortage has affected Fayette County Public Schools causing significant and unprecedented bus route cancellations and delays. The district until Monday night had no system to manage the delays, said district chief operating officer Myron Thompson.

In addition to stipends for drivers who cover routes so they don’t have to be canceled, the new plan will include a pre-determined schedule of canceled and delayed routes that will spread the impact across the district on a rotating basis. Thompson said some schools have been getting hit harder by delays and cancellations than others. Thompson said schools that have been affected frequently up to this point won’t be affected again right away.

Routes will be canceled a month in advance, district officials told families Monday night.

Canceled bus routes have caused at least 1,164 Fayette County Public Schools students to miss a half day or more this school year.

Fayette Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said the problem had been disruptive for families and the new plan will give families more time to plan for cancellations.

“This has without question been the most challenging (time) in the department’s history,” said Thompson. “This plan will be much more friendly to our students and our families going forward.”

He said some families are getting a call that a route has been canceled on the morning that it happens.

To implement the plan, 25 current drivers and monitors have agreed to drop their regular routes and pick up uncovered routes. Other current, regular, drivers will be picking up the routes of the relief drivers on a rotating basis.

School bus driver Manny Potter told the board he had volunteered as a relief driver and he thought the plan was a “good direction.”

Bus monitor Barbara Shelby told the board she appreciated the extra money and thought the plan was a good idea for everybody.

Stipends will be in the amount of $20 per morning and $20 per afternoon for all relief drivers, $10 per morning and $10 per afternoon for all relief monitors; $10 per morning and $10 per afternoon for regular drivers and $5 per morning and $5 per afternoon for regular monitors.

The fiscal impact on the district for the stipends could be $450,000, according to board documents, but district officials say they think the costs will initially be $150,000.

Liggins told families in a message Monday night that district officials are working each day to recruit and train more drivers and district officials hope to be fully staffed by the end of the first semester.

Until then, each week, a new set of routes will be canceled for the morning.

Service will be provided for those routes in the afternoon, but buses will run at 4:45 p.m. rather than their regular time.

The week a bus route does not run, district officials encourage families to find another way for a child to get to school.

If they are unable to make other arrangements for transportation, a child’s absence will be excused. The list of cancellations for the month of October is available at this link.

The district will send reminder emails, calls and text messages to impacted families the week before their routes are canceled and delayed. The list of November cancellations will be available online next week.

Vaccinated employees get incentive payment

The Fayette school board also voted to pay a one time incentive payment of $200 to employees who get COVID-19 vaccinations by December 1, 2021.

The Kentucky Department of Education told districts they would reimburse school districts for a one time vaccination incentive payment of $100 for employees who are fully vaccinated by Dec. 1, 2021, and encouraged districts to match that incentive.

All full- and part-time Fayette school employees would be eligible for a payment of $200 if they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 1, 2021 and they submit documentation of the vaccination by the deadlines established --Dec. 3 and Jan. 10.

Substitutes who have worked at least 10 days during the 2021-2022 school year, with one of those days being within a month of the payment, would be eligible. Fully vaccinated is considered two doses for Pfizer and Moderna vaccination and one dose for Johnson and Johnson.

Human Resource Director Jennifer Dyar said employees will be eligible for the stipend even if they were vaccinated in the past.

The financial impact on the district will be $1.6 million with $800,000 reimbursed by the Kentucky Department of Education and $800,000 reimbursed by federal funds.

Fayette County Schools has lost employees, and recently a student to COVID-19. Statewide, there have been 47 COVID-19 deaths of K-12 school employees, the educator group Kentucky 120 United reported Monday.

Gov. Andy Beshear said as of Monday at least 16 children are in Kentucky hospitals with COVID-19 related illnesses, six are intensive care units and five are on ventilators.

This story was originally published September 27, 2021 at 8:43 PM.