Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Drivers Agree To Stay

By JOHN MILLER

Gurdon's school bus drivers will be staying on the job.

The Gurdon School Board met in special session Monday, Oct. 27 to discuss the resignations turned in by all but one driver. The board agreed to give the drivers, maintenance supervisor, secretaries and bookkeeper a raise.

Tuesday, representatives from the drivers group met with Superintendent Bobby Smithson telling him they would stay on.

The drivers and maintenance supervisors had tendered their resignations with an effective date of Nov. 4.

A mass exodus of drivers would have put the district in a serious situation for getting students to and from school on a daily basis.

However, the board deliberated more than an hour in executive session before reaching its decision to increase the pay of those involved.

The board's decision was to give the bus drivers a raise of $411 per year, bringing their salary to $5,340. This is an 8 percent increase and, Smithson said, puts the district in the top three schools for drivers' salaries in the region.

The maintenance supervisors also saw a hefty increase in their salaries. The maintenance supervisors new salary will be $27,000 annually.

According to Smithson, this makes the Gurdon maintenance supervisors the highest paid in a 12 district area. The only exception is in Arkadelphia, but as he pointed out, the Arkadelphia maintenance supervisor also teaches a class and is paid for it as well.

This raise amounts to a 12 percent increase over the previous salary for maintenance supervisors.

Secretaries in the Gurdon district also saw their pay be increased by $500 per year.

Additionally, the district's bookkeeper was given a raise to $25,120.

Before this raise was approved, Smithson said, the bookkeeper's salary was near the bottom the surrounding area.