PENDER COUNTY — The Pender County Board of Education unanimously approved a one-time bonus for bus drivers during its meeting on Friday morning.
The district will provide 95 active bus drivers with an $850 bonus, while substitute drivers who have worked more than 12 hours will receive $425. The total amount distributed will be $86,700, funded with the district’s remaining Covid-19 relief funds expiring at the end of the month.
The bonuses will be paid on Monday, Sept. 30.
“Our bus drivers are there for us every day, ensuring students get to school safely,” Breedlove said in a press release. “This bonus is a small way to show our appreciation for their hard work and consistency.”
Like other districts in the state, PCS has struggled in recent years to hire and retain bus drivers, resulting in double and triple routes that delay student pick-up and drop-off.
Earlier this month, Director of Transportation Britton Overton described the district’s driver pay as middle-of-the-road in a transportation update to the board.
PCS has 75 drivers out of 94 to cover its routes. It operates 19 double routes in the morning and afternoon, along with a variable two to five triple routes, depending on driver availability.
As a result some students were arriving to school and back home between one and two hours late. Breedlove said those students were being offered additional tutoring to make up for lost learning time.
The district has 12 people in training for the required commercial driver’s license, but noted this is often a five- or six-month-long process, while attracting and retaining drivers is hard.
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