CONTINUED FROM 1 HELP WANTED With the 2023-24 school year approaching, Leander and Liberty Hill ISDs are experiencing greater shortages of auxiliary sta than neighboring Georgetown ISD. Un lled positions exist in the transportation, custodial and child nutrition departments.
Georgetown ISD 12% positions open Bus drivers
Leander ISD
Liberty Hill ISD
AS OF JULY 19
AS OF JULY 18
AS OF JULY 31
52% positions open Bus drivers 53% positions open Child nutrition services 11% positions open Custodians
60% positions open Bus drivers 34% positions open Child nutrition services 92% positions open Custodians
18% positions open Child nutrition services 7% positions open Custodians
SOURCES: GEORGETOWN, LEANDER & LIBERTY HILL ISDSCOMMUNITY IMPACT
of July 19. The transportation department also had six vacancies for bus aides, for which the district has 26 total positions. Meanwhile, nutrition services had 20 vacancies in its 114-person department, and the district was down three maintenance sta out of 41 positions. In response to the driver shortage, the GISD board of trustees voted June 19 to expand the district’s nonservice bus area to students living within 2 miles of school. It was previously 1 mile. The change will impact roughly 420 students out of the 6,000 GISD transports daily, Executive Director of Support Services Kirby Campbell told trustees during a monthly workshop meeting. This radius is not unusual for many school districts throughout the region. Leander and Round Rock ISDs both have 2-mile nonservice zones unless the route to a student’s neighbor- hood is considered hazardous. Campbell said the service zone change is a product of a growing city, a competitive industry and eects of the COVID-19 pandemic. “That aects people and families who previously rode the bus for however many years,” he said. “Now, this coming school year, they’re having to nd ways to get their child to and from school every day.” Changing landscape Prior to 2020, many of the bus driver positions in Georgetown were lled by residents of Sun City, an age-restricted community with over 15,000 people. Once the pandemic arrived, many
of those individuals left GISD’s bus driver team. “You’re in a conned space, and you’re all breathing the same oxygen,” Ledbetter said. “If somebody happens to be sick, it usually spreads a little bit. With COVID, we had quite a few drivers that just weren’t able to come back because of fear of contracting that virus.” The city of Georgetown has also grown in population, which has created more trac and farther distances for drivers to travel. For example, it could take students living in the Santa Rita Ranch development 25-30 minutes to get to their school. These types of scenarios have ocials considering changes to bell schedules in the future, following what other districts have done to stagger student release times so fewer buses are needed at one time. “You have to look at the time it takes to pick up kids in one area and get them to the school, which at some point in the future, [GISD] might have to look at some of those bell schedules and adjust that because it’s just getting hard to get around town,” said Sue Harrison, GISD executive director of human resources. Support sta shortages are not unique to GISD, either. Leander and Liberty Hill ISDs are facing similar challenges: 52% of bus driver positions in LISD and 60% of bus driver positions in LHISD are vacant. These neighboring districts also have worse shortages than GISD in the child nutrition services department and among custodial sta. Finding maintenance sta, groundskeepers, food service workers and other workers has
WHAT'S THE PAY? Over the last year, district ocials have upped the starting pay for bus drivers, custodians and child nutrition workers in eorts to increase retention and gain interest from candidates.
Georgetown ISD Leander ISD Liberty Hill ISD
Bus drivers 2022-23
$20/hr
$20/hr
$21.25/hr
$21/hr
$20-$22/hr
$22/hr
2023-24
Child nutrition services 2022-23 $14/hr
$15/hr
$15/hr
$15/hr
$15.46/hr*
$16.25/hr
2023-24
Custodians 2022-23
$14/hr
$15/hr
$15/hr
$15/hr
$15.46/hr*
$16.25/hr
2023-24
*$1.50 MORE PER HOUR FOR STAFF IN SOUTHERN PART OF DISTRICT AS INCENTIVE
SOURCES: GEORGETOWN, LEANDER & LIBERTY HILL ISDS COMMUNITY IMPACT
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