RPS School Board Considers Changes To Bus Driver Overtime

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In a presentation to school board members Monday, Chief Operating Officer Dana Fox presented some of the challenges for RPS bus drivers, including that most work eight-hour shifts per week, but many drivers take extra shifts for field trips, after school activities and programs, and Technical Center runs.

Currently, operators receive two hours in overtime pay for the first run after school, then four hours in OT for the next run, and six hours in OT for the following run.

The presentation also included OT comparison to surrounding counties. However, school bus driver Starlett Rowland says it's unfair to make comparisons, as the city is required to provide transportation to more after-school programs.

"You're not going to have the issue in the county because you have parents picking kids up," Rowland says. "They don't have half the school program buses which the city does because they can't afford for the parents to pick the kids up."

In July, Richmond Public Schools (RPS) Chief Talent Officer Maggie Clemmons notified the school board that RPS has "not been able to agree on overtime and compensation" with the bargaining representatives from LiUNA.

Clemmons said the union's "request to keep overtime compensation, as it has been practiced, is not one that we could meet given that the board is still reviewing the matter."

For months, the Richmond School Board has been considering the findings of an audit that revealed the district was on track to pay bus drivers $1.8 million in overtime this year.