Corona-Norco Schools to Give Bus Fleet Up

Corona-Norco school trustees voted Tuesday to phase out the district’s fleet of buses, drivers and mechanics over the next two years and use a private contractor.

The phase-out, approved by a 3-0 vote, will give employees a chance to find jobs elsewhere, according to Robert W. Crank, assistant superintendent for business services.

The Corona-Norco Unified School District also will offer employees retraining for other jobs in the schools, such as custodians, teachers’ aides and painters, Crank said. Some of those jobs pay more and some less than bus drivers’ receive.

By hiring a private contractor to run the buses, the district could save $500,000 annually, Crank estimated, “primarily because the contractors have a lower wage scale and (offer) fewer benefits.”

On April 23, the district’s bus drivers had presented cost-cutting proposals and offered to make sacrifices to keep their jobs.

Their presentation convinced a majority of board members to keep the transportation department alive for at least another year. The board ordered administrators to study the drivers’ ideas, such as better scheduling and fewer breaks, and other ways to reduce transportation costs, including private busing.

Contract busing will save the most, Crank said.

Officials of the transportation employees’ union have charged that phasing out jobs will violate their contract. Crank responded Tuesday: “We don’t feel it’s illegal.”

Unfilled Positions

The district has seven or eight unfilled positions in its staff of 50 drivers, one opening among its 10 mechanics’ positions, and one opening among three clerical posts, Crank said. “We thought, ‘We have vacancies already, why don’t we try a phased-in concept of contract?’ ”

In the plan, mechanics and management phases will be turned over to a private contractor this fall; the contractor also will operate routes left vacant by turnover among the drivers. Together, that will save the district $300,000, Crank estimated.

In the second year, all routes will be given to the contractor, saving at least $400,000, he said.