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School bus driver disputes $5,000 separation offer, asks board for $15,000
Summary
Lawrence Turner, a Pike school bus driver with more than a decade of service, said the district offered a one-time $5,000 payment in a personnel settlement he called insufficient and told the board he seeks $15,000; he also said he has taken the matter to PERC and will attend future meetings until it is resolved.
Lawrence Turner, who identified himself as a Pike school bus driver with 11–12 years of service, used the public-comment period to place a personnel dispute on the board’s record.
Turner said he discussed a retirement/separation offer with district representatives and was presented with a one-time payment of $5,000, which he described as “lousy” for the years of service he put in. “If anybody here can deny what I'm saying here, they need to stand up and say they deny it,” Turner said. He told the board his lawyer advised seeking $15,000 as an appropriate one-time payment so he could “walk away from here clean.”
Turner said he provided documents to the Public Employment Relations Commission and showed the district his route logs (yellow cards) to document his service. He said he rescinds the prior offers and intends to continue attending school-board meetings until the situation is resolved.
Board response: The chair thanked Turner and the meeting record reflects no immediate board action or public rebuttal during the Feb. 13 session.
Why it matters: The comment raises an employee-relations dispute involving a long-time driver and references both an internal offer and involvement of PERC. The board indicated the matter would be discussed further (an HR line item was deferred to executive session during the meeting).
