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Decatur County bus drivers offered incentives for attendance

Officials say less drivers have been calling out
Posted at 5:49 PM, Mar 21, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-21 17:49:11-04

DECATUR COUNTY, Ga. (WTXL) — Decatur County Schools can employ nearly 55 bus drivers, but for this school year, they’ve been understaffed by about 10 with several calling out each week.

Earlier this year, Decatur County School officials implemented an incentive program for their bus drivers in hopes of having more drivers show up for their routes. Through this program, drivers can earn nearly $80 per day for showing up, in addition to their benefits.

Although, these incentives have only been in place for a couple of months, it seems to be working. Tim Cochran, the superintendent of Decatur County Schools, says that less drivers have been calling out, and that the interest in being a substitute driver has increased.

“It's gone real well. It's really increased our driver attendance to work. That's been huge because when you have a shortage of drivers already, you don't want people missing," said Cochran. "I think it's going to be able to help recruit some drivers."

Full time bus drivers are not usually hired during this time of year, but substitutes are, and they could even become full time drivers later on.

This incentive program will allow drivers to earn up to $4,000 extra per year in addition to their base salary.