Contract school bus drivers request earlier pay due to recent gas prices

Contract bus drivers for the Iberia Parish School System attended Wednesday’s school board meeting to request immediate relief concerning the recent spike in fuel costs.

Karen Simon addressed the Iberia Parish School Board that evening on behalf of several bus drivers who serve on a contract basis. Simon said the group’s request was for payment relief this month for fuel, which was “severely affecting” the financial situation of many of the drivers.

“A lot of us have gone from paying $140 to more than $250, not every week but every three to four days,” Simon said. “Again, our request is that we should not wait or have to wait until April 15 and April 30 to collect anything because the price of oil will have dropped by then.”

Transportation Director William Regard said the state and Iberia Parish School District provide fuel adjustments in the payment of contract drivers.

“We’re supposed to look at the fuel prices in April and make a fuel adjustment for the contract drivers in May,” Regard said. “Because of the severity of the situation, it’s been proposed we make it at the beginning of May so they can have immediate fuel relief for what they’re experiencing now.”

However, Simon said moving the date up was still insufficient.

“As of today, the price of oil has gone down, and if we base the increase on April 1 then we will have lost everything we paid from that increase between the last week of February and the current day.”

“It would be appreciated by every contract driver to have the funds we have monetarily hemorrhaged into our tanks to be compensated at a rate we’re paying and those funds to be distributed into our March payroll,” she added.

The board did not take any action on the proposal at the meeting.

In other business, the board unanimously approved a modified pay schedule for computer technicians employed at the Iberia Parish School District. Among other things, the change increases the base pay for the job from $24,585 to $27,585 and implements a progression schedule that allows promotion from Computer Technician I to Computer Technician III based on longevity and performance.

Assistant Superintendent Heath Hulin said the IPSD’s Technology Department has hugely increased its job scope due to the 24,000 technological devices acquired with a capital investment of $10.5 million.

Hulin said the industry standard is for computer technicians to deal with between 500 to 1,000 devices, but the six computer technicians employed by the district currently deal with an average of 2,854 devices.

“These people are taking on more than what the industry says they should be responsible for,” Hulin said.