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Support staff, CSEA press Riverhead board to settle expired contract and raise pay for drivers and aides
Summary
Multiple CSEA and support‑staff members told the Riverhead board their contract expired June 30 and urged immediate resolution, citing recruitment and retention crises for bus drivers and aides, low hourly wages (examples cited in testimony) and safety and scheduling burdens that make staffing unsustainable.
Members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and district support staff used the public‑comment period on Dec. 12 to press the Riverhead Central School District to resolve a contract that expired on June 30 and to address wages and staffing shortages.
Sonia Johnson, who identified herself as the CSEA president for the district’s non‑instructional unit, said the contract has been "6 months past the expiration date, July 1," and that the district faces recruitment and retention problems in multiple departments, particularly transportation. She asked trustees to consider union proposals and noted member‑service tenure distributions to illustrate the staffing profile.
Other speakers—Indira Abrahamson (senior office assistant and CSEA negotiation committee member), Kelly Turbisch (transportation, 24 years), Lisa Douglas Albay (clerical employee), Liam Rossert (CSEA Long Island regional director), Marie Navarro (CSEA local president for the region), Carrie Harrison (technology department) and bus workers including Sheila Cumberbatch and Ish Michelle—described long hours, responsibilities beyond driving (behavioral and health incidents), and hourly rates that they said do not meet living costs on Long Island. Examples given in testimony included a bus monitor paid $17 per hour and driver compensation that, when annualized across days and hours worked, staff said yields low annual incomes.
Liam Rossert urged the board to "think long and hard" about the importance of drivers, saying a published hourly rate does not reflect the full scope of duties and on‑call responsibilities. Marie Navarro and other CSEA leaders urged greater appreciation and tangible contract improvements to stem turnover, and several speakers connected pay and staffing to student safety and continuity of services.
Board members acknowledged the comments but did not announce a contract resolution at the meeting. Trustees and administrators were asked to continue negotiations and to consider the proposals presented; no vote or formal board response changing terms was recorded in the transcript.
The comments underscore bargaining tensions and operational risk for daily transportation and support services in the district. The CSEA speakers requested that the board and administration prioritize reaching an agreement that improves pay and working conditions to address immediate staffing shortages.
