Bus drivers to get more compensation

By Vershal Hogan (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Friday, May 9, 2008

VIDALIA — The Concordia Parish School Board voted to adjust the sliding scale for bus drivers’ compensation Thursday night.

The temporary adjustment was made to compensate for rising fuel costs, and the school board will revisit the issue at its July meeting, Superintendent Loretta Blankenstein said.

The adjustment passed 4-2, with board members Martha Rabb and Daryl Price dissenting. Board member Fred Butcher had already left the meeting at the time of the vote.

Factors included in the sliding scale are the price of gas and how far the bus driver has to travel.

Bus drivers also receive and operational allowance from the state.

The board also voted to adopt a new safety handbook for school board employees.

The current handbook was written in the 1980s, and because of its out-datedness the school district’s insurance ratings had begun to drop, Business Manager Tom O’Neal said.

The former handbook was written by a committee over a two-year period, and the changes have already saved the school district $9,000, O’Neal said.

“Two of our three insurance carriers have acknowledged it as a good job,” he said.

The biggest change to the handbook will require employees who use their private vehicles to travel on school board business to have at least $100,000 in liability insurance coverage.

“If they have a meeting in Baton Rouge and when they get to Woodville they get in an accident, it’s on (the school board) because they’re on official business,” O’Neal said.

Under the old policy employees were only required to have liability insurance if they used their own vehicles for official business.

In other news:

4The board voted to approve a consolidated budget for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, which included — among other things — an $800,000 surplus.