Lyle School Bus Drivers Picket For Job Protections; School District Responds
Photo Credit Justine Shatney
By Cole Goodwin
Lyle, Washington - Bus drivers from Lyle School District gathered in Lyle and at The Dalles Bridge in protest over the weekend to voice their concerns over a new contract with Mid-Columbia Transportation Cooperative. The picket, organized by the local chapter of the Public School Employees of Washington (PSE) union, aimed to raise awareness about the importance of retaining local bus drivers and protecting their rights.
Photo Credit Justine Shatney
The Lyle School District, has been negotiating the transition or departure of bus driver employment contracts from Lyle School to the Mid-Columbia Transportation Cooperative since last September when the cooperative was formed by White Salmon, Klickitat and Lyle schools in order to consolidate resources and streamline administrative functions related to transportation across multiple districts, ultimately saving costs.
“The state has shrunk our funding, and this is our way of consolidating without losing our independence. By collaborating with our neighbors,” said Ann Varkados, Lyle School Superintendent.
During the picket over the weekend Union representatives and bus drivers present expressed their concerns about disparities between their current PSE union contract and the contract proposed by the cooperative.
Diana Solomon, Chapter President of the PSE union, highlighted the importance of maintaining the current conditions and benefits for Lyle bus drivers. She stressed that the drivers wanted to remain in their community, serving their students without having to make sacrifices in pay, benefits, and job security.
“Since September of last year, our union has been trying to negotiate with the school about sending our bus drivers to White Salmon, to a bus co-op for drivers,” said Solomon “That would mean releasing them from our PSE contract to a White Salmon contract, and that contract is not as good.”
Photo Credit Justine Shatney
Solomon said that negotiations had gotten off to a rough start early on following mishandling of the bargaining process on the side of the Lyle School district.
“They cooked up this little agreement with the other two districts in the co-op, which are White Salmon and Klickitat, and they came up with this thing, and then our bus drivers had to hear about it from other bus drivers from other districts, instead of hearing it from the district first. So, they kind of mishandled the bargaining process,” said Solomon.
Picketors shared that they felt the district just “doesn’t want to deal with transportation anymore.” Citing the root of their problems beginning with the quitting of the Transportation coordinator during covid.
“They brought in an interim supervisor to help us get through the end of the year and nothing else happened after that,” said Cinnamon Hawkins, a bus driver for Lyle.
Several picketors shared that following those events, former White Salmon Superintendent Sean McGeeney, who has now left the school district following a vote of no confidence, visited small schools in the area, at which point in time they began to hear that the co-op plan was being created and that McGeeney had at that time offered to be the fiscal agent for the co-op.
“We didn’t even know this was happening. So we were blindsided. It’s really a hardship to run transportation out of this district have that conversation with us.” said Hawkins.
“Now to their credit they have thrown in a couple of things to try and sweeten the pot, but they’re pretty small and it’s not what we’re asking for,” said Solomon.
Currently the two main things the union is asking for are:
To be grandfathered into the PSE contract terms and conditions.
“We want our drivers to be grandfathered into those terms and conditions so that they are not harmed in this process,” said Solomon. “That means everything: including the same benefits, vacation, sick time, and incentive pay, working conditions, and work rules like scheduling, seniority, everything that makes this fair to the employees.”
And for bus drivers to be given the right of first refusal to accept employment with the district in the event the district decides to pull out of the co-op and hire their own bus drivers again.
“If they decide to do that, we want our bus drivers to be the first on that list, the first phone calls before a general offer of employment is made to the public,” said Solomon. “As of now they continue to refuse us those protections.”
Justine Shatney, PSE Union Rep, reiterated the strong connection between the drivers and the community. She emphasized the trust placed in them by local families to safely transport their children and their dedication to providing essential services and opportunities for students' participation in extracurricular activities.
“We’re trying to keep our bus drivers here. Yes, they say it’s a hub, but our drivers could be sent to do other bus routes in White Salmon or Klickitat and we want to keep our driver here. It’s a better contract, it’s better pay, it’s better everything,” said Shatney.
Lyle Bus Drivers Speak Out
Cinnamon Hawkins, who has worked for Lyle School District since 2015 and has been a bus driver for five years, emphasized the commitment of the drivers to the Lyle community and their desire to continue serving their own community's students. She mentioned the challenges faced by the drivers, such as driving double routes due to a shortage of staff, but affirmed their determination to fulfill their responsibilities.
“We work in Lyle and these are our kids that we take care of every day. And we've built relationships with our families and they trust us to safely transport their kids. And we want to make sure that that continues to happen and that's why we do what we do. We don't want to go work somewhere else. We don't want to be outsourced where we might not be transporting our kids. We could go work at White Salmon if we choose to– we've all been offered jobs there, but we want to stay in our district and stay with our kids. And that's a priority for us,” said Hawkins.
“And even if this thing needs to happen for whatever reason, we shouldn't be asked to make sacrifices to do that, we shouldn't have to take cuts and pay and cuts and benefits and cuts and protection. To facilitate someone else's wants. I mean, we should deserve protection too. We've worked hard, we've worked hard for years. I've been driving for Lyle for five years now and I drove through covid and everything. I drove everyday during covid.
“We've been driving short-handed, you'll see we have the best wanted bus driver sign up. That's been posted for more than a year because we're so shorthanded. Most days. We drive Double routes. Sometimes more depending on if a driver gets sick, or if someone's not available to come, but we make it happen. We make sure our kids get to school and they get the services that they need and they get to participate in the activities that they love like their sports and afterschool programs, those are the things that are important to us as drivers and as Lyle community members and as parents of kids who graduated from this district. We’re committed here.” said Hawkins.
Katrina Fitzsimmons, another Lyle bus driver said that for her the issue was all about making sure kids and families feel connected to their community.
“This is where my heart is in this town. My family’s here, and my kids. I don’t want them to have a disconnected feeling going through White Salmon. Right now they can get a hold of our school and the school can contact bus drivers if there is a route change. But if it goes through White Salmon, they’re not going to know those families. They’re not going to know the kids. They’re not going to know each and every individual situation with each and every kid. And for me that’s really important,” said Fitzsimmons.
Mindy Robinson, who has been a Lyle bus driver off and on for 22 years also emphasized the importance of maintaining community connections.
“I’m alumni, my husband’s alumni, my kids are all alumni. Our hearts in this community. We’ve done so much in our community. I signed up for Lyle, not White Salmon. If they switch us to White Salmon I won’t go. I’m holding my ground. And I feel cheated, I feel belittled, and unvalued.” said Robinson.
The District Responds
In response to the picket, Ann Varkados, Superintendent of Lyle School District, emphasized the district's commitment to its employees and responsible use of taxpayer funds.
Varkados stated, "I value our employees and the district will continue to bargain in good faith while being responsible stewards of our taxpayer funds.”
Varkados also reaffirmed the importance of bus drivers to the district.
“I think bus drivers are very important. They are the first and last person to see some of our students every day, and they perform a vital service for the district,” said Varkados.
“This would not exclude our bus drivers from being a part of our team or part of our family. We’re just trying to be fiscally responsible. Our funding is shrinking. This gives us the chance to put more funds towards kids and less towards transportation,” said Varkados.
Varkados sent out an email to staff, families and the community on Monday, June 12th, following the picket to clarify that all jobs would be maintained under the cooperative agreement, assuring that no one would lose their job. Furthermore, transportation employees would receive a 3% raise for work dating back to September 2022, in addition to a 5.5% cost-of-living adjustment provided to all employees.
The email also said that contrary to claims made during the picket over the weekend, Lyle bus drivers would continue to drive Lyle students, and the transportation hub for Lyle would remain in the district.
“There have been assertions that drivers from outside of Lyle will be taking over driving our Lyle students to and from school. That is simply not true,” said Varkados.
Varkados explained that each school has their own transportation hub.
The reason for the stark difference in PSE and the district’s understanding about whether or not Lyle Bus Driver’s will or will not be sent to other districts while other drivers drive Lyle students is unknown at this time.
Varkados also wanted to clarify that the establishment of the transportation cooperative was prompted by changes in state funding for small school districts in Washington. These changes created a funding shortfall in transportation, necessitating collaboration among neighboring districts to share costs and maximize available resources.
According to Varkados, the cooperative model has been successfully implemented in other areas, such as special education and Information Technology (IT), to provide efficient services while minimizing expenses. By consolidating administrative functions like state reporting requirements, the participating districts can collectively save more than $220,000.
“We have a co-op for other parts of the school district, special education, and instructional technology. They still participate in our community, they are still considered part of our team, they just get their check from the ESD now. They still get a christmas card from me. They are a part of our team. They are a part of our family. They are still a part of our staff. It doesn’t matter who pays you,” said Varkados.
As the negotiations continue between the Lyle School District and the PSE union, both parties hope to find a resolution that addresses the concerns of the bus drivers while considering the financial cost to the district.
PSE Union representatives encouraged the community to make their voices heard at the upcoming Lyle School Board Meeting on June 28th, 2023 at 6 p.m, or by submitting public comment to the School Board, and the Ann Varkados Superintendent.
Support Local News
Our work helps inform and connect our communities.
