Want a new job? CMS sweetens the pot to attract ‘guest’ teachers, bus drivers
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools are still short dozens of bus drivers nearly two months into the school year, despite aggressive recruitment efforts, including hosting multiple job fairs and offering bonuses.
Now, the school district will bump up the hourly wage for drivers in hopes they can attract more staff. On Tuesday, the Board of Education unanimously approved increasing the starting wage from $15.75 an hour to $17.75.
CMS staff said $4.9 million will be needed to cover the increase. District leaders say the compensation is more competitive considering districts across the state and nation are experiencing a bus driver shortage.
Adam Johnson, the district’s executive transportation director, said the increase means CMS bus drivers will be the highest paid in the state. The new wages will go into effect Nov. 1.
“This (will) put us in a place to attract back some of the people who left us over the last couple of months,” Johnson said.
According to a presentation at Tuesday’s board meeting, there are 56 vacancies in CMS and a total of 1,300 bus driver vacancies across North Carolina. District leaders said approved employee leave and absences also affect bus routes daily. There have been an increased number of employee departures since July 1.
In August, before the start of school, the Observer reported that CMS had nearly 80 bus driver vacancies, with the number changing almost daily. At the time, the district employed 890 drivers.
“To our bus drivers who are out there, God bless you,” Board chairperson Elyse Dashew said. “We cannot have school if we can’t get kids to school. ... To anybody else who has it in their heart to come drive our kids to and from school, we need you.”
CMS took steps in March in anticipation of a driver shortage, including creating a recruitment task force and ridership survey, optimizing routes and capacities and holding job fairs and bus classes. Applicants with commercial driver’s licenses were fast tracked, and $1,000 recruitment and retention bonuses were announced in August.
CMS shortages beyond drivers
The staffing shortage with CMS goes beyond bus drivers. Finding enough substitute teachers continues to be a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to teacher vacancies. There are 83 unfilled teacher positions.
The district’s human resources department is launching a Guest Teacher Initiative across 42 schools. The positions are full-time, benefit-earning positions that are dedicated to a particular school. Guest teachers will serve to cover unfilled vacancies and teacher absences when a substitute is not available and will provide additional classroom support as needed.
Guest teachers will earn a salary of $150 per day, plus benefits, working on all days when students are present in schools. The minimum requirements are the same as a daily substitute: a high school diploma, and applicants must be at least 21 years old.
The district encourages current school volunteers to apply.
CMS enrollment down
While the district is working to address shortages, last week CMS announced its 20-day enrollment is 140,406 for the 2021-22 school year. That’s an increase of 334 students, compared to last school year. Projected enrollment for this school year was 143,856.
“All current teaching and instructional support positions will be maintained,” an official with CMS’ communications team said, “though some adjustments will occur in order to provide appropriate staffing at the schools with the greatest need.”
This story was originally published October 12, 2021 at 7:59 PM.
