Havre School Board approves raises for activity bus drivers

The Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees voted to raise activity bus driver pay, approved their two-year agreement with the Teamsters and approved a contract with the Montana School Boards Association to conduct a search for a permanent superintendent in a meeting Tuesday.

Interim-Superintendent Brad Moore, who was appointed for the remainder of the school year after the unexpected death of the previous superintendent Craig Mueller last month, presented the details of the MTSBA contract to the board and recommended they pass it.

Trustee Christin Hileman said she was impressed with the amount of work MTSBA was willing to do for them for such a reasonable price, but she did have a couple questions.

Hileman asked how long the process usually takes.

Moore said MTSBA usually has the advertisements for the position up for about six weeks and follow that up with screening and interviews, so it may take a while especially given that it's the middle of the school year.

"You're looking at two to three months start-to-finish," he said. "Especially this time of year."

Board Chair Curtis Smeby said MTSBA does a good job keeping Moore and, by extension, the board, informed about how the process is proceeding and their process is very intensive.

Hileman also asked if MTSBA makes recommendations about whether or not, and how, schools should advertise outside of the advertising the association does on its own.

Moore said 99 percent of candidates find postings through the Montana Office of Public Instruction and the association's own website, so he thinks that should cover it.

Smeby said the pool of candidates for these kinds of jobs is very small, so OPI and the association are probably enough, but they can talk about doing advertisements elsewhere if the board thinks it necessary.

The contract was approved unanimously.

The board then talked about raising the pay of activity bus drivers at the district to $17.50 per hour for the remainder of the year, and to $19 per hour next year, which they hope will help with recruitment and retention after the past few year of not having enough drivers.

Hileman asked how significant an impact this would have on the budget.

Havre High School Activities Director Mark Irvin said it's hard to say definitively, especially with fuel prices still high, but thinks the benefits outweigh the costs.

"I don't know if we know the full impact," he said. "... But it affects us more if we don't have drivers."

Had the raise been implemented for the fall season, he said, it would have come in just under $3,000, which is not a huge number in the grand scheme of things, but there is variance between sports seasons, so he can't give an exact number for the coming year.

During the meeting the board also unanimously approved a two-year agreement with the Teamsters, which includes school bus transportation staff, clerical staff, food service staff and custodial and maintenance staff, but before passing it Moore said that the agreement doesn't cover health insurance due to the volatile nature of the current market.

He said the district and the union have agreed to address that matter in January, but otherwise collective bargaining is done for now.

The new agreement also includes raises for Teamster members in the school district.