ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — Rowan-Salsibury school leaders unanimously signed off on a policy that would require new teaching assistants to also drive school buses.
The decision is partially due to the fact the district is struggling to find bus drivers. Under the policy, some teaching assistants would be required to be substitute bus drivers when needed.
District leaders say it could help out teachers looking to make some extra cash but there could be some other repercussions.
Officials said TAs with certain medical conditions and those working with certain kinds of students could get an exemption from this requirement.
“Currently, the challenge is to find creative ways to hire and retain bus drivers,” Dean Hunter, chairman of the board of education, said back in November when the idea was first proposed.
Salaries for bus drivers, among other jobs, were recently increased to make them more attractive.
“It’s really like a part-time job and it is paying a whole lot better than it was last year. We've worked hard to try and create higher pay for our TA’s and higher pay for our bus drivers. The bus drivers are making even more money because it's not something that everybody wants to do,” Brian Hightower, a board member, said.
Under the “dual employment policy,” newly and re-hired teacher’s assistants would be required to be substitute school bus drivers when needed. They would be required to maintain a valid driver’s license and all other certifications needed to drive a school bus.
“If they are a dual employee and they are a TA, they get the TA rate,” Hunter said. “However, they also get the bus driver’s pay. Right now, starting pay, no experience is over $16 an hour for bus drivers.”
Hunter said the position has some benefits.
“For our bus drivers, who work two to three hours in the morning and two to three hours in the afternoon... By having a TA doing that, then they are getting more hours themselves,” Hunter said.
Hightower has some reservations about the policy.
“We've got to make sure that whatever we're implementing is not going to keep us from being able to hire qualified TAs to do a great job in the classroom,” Hightower said. "We don't want to run them off by forcing them to drive a bus route.”
He’s worried it will deter some potential new employees from applying.
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