Randolph County Board approves bus-driver recruitment and incentive plan

The Randolph County Board of Education on Feb. 10 approved a multi-part bus driver recruitment and incentive plan aimed at filling dozens of open routes and rewarding current drivers.

The plan, presented by Superintendent Dr. Ganey, combines recruitment, temporary incentives and a salary-schedule adjustment designed to start April 1. "We're gonna put $500 on every bus, every yellow bus," Dr. Ganey told the board, describing an annual incentive he said would be paid as a pro rata share to drivers based on the number of routes they actually drive.

Board members were told the system runs about 48 yellow buses on the road and that the $500-per-bus figure would cost roughly $70,000 annually. The superintendent said a partial-year payment from April 1 through the end of the school year would be smaller (he described it as about $200 per bus for that partial period) and that the district would not make the payments retroactive. He also stressed the program does not apply to activity buses: "None of this has to do with activity buses," he said.

Why it matters: the system has dozens of vacancies and long-running openings for classified…