Central Dauphin School Board to consider settlement agreement between school district, bus drivers association

Central Dauphin School Board’s president said a settlement up for consideration Monday could wrap up lingering issues between the school district and some of its bus drivers.

The school board will be voting on approving a Confidential Settlement Agreement and General Release between the Central Dauphin School District and the Central Dauphin Bus Drivers Association, according to Monday’s meeting agenda.

School board President Ford Thompson said administrators are recommending the settlement’s approval because they thought it was better for the school district to settle the matter now rather than extend it through arbitration and beyond.

“It’s better for us to try to settle this rather than take our changes with an arbitrator,” Thompson said.

He said the settlement would pay the bus drivers association $40,000. Of that, about $25,000 is made up of unused funding for employee health care costs, which, Thompson said, the bus drivers were clearly due by a clause in a September 2010 agreement.

That agreement had to do with a dispute that began in August 2009 when the school board voted to terminate an agreement with the union. The district signed a contract with Durham School Services to have it provide transportation for the district.

Under the September 2010 settlement, the bus drivers association agreed to drop its legal challenges against the district at the time. In turn, they were to receive the full value of the remainder of their contract.

The district committed to providing eligible employees with health insurance through Oct. 31, 2010. After that time, the district agreed to pay the costs of COBRA insurance for the bus drivers through June 30, 2011.

The approximately $25,000 difference is the result of what the school district budgeted and what it actually spent on the bus drivers’ health care in the 2010-11 school year.

The school district budgeted $590,000, but it only ended up spending about $565,000 for their health care, Thompson said.

Thompson said the administration is recommending adding the extra $15,000 to avoid further litigation. The school district feels that amount is less than what it would spend in legal fees if the matter went through arbitration and beyond, he said.

Donna Ricupero, president of the bus drivers association, said a portion of the payment also includes money bus drivers are owed because of outsourcing of summer runs in 2010.

Ricupero agreed that the settlement, if approved, wraps up the issues between the school district and bus drivers.

“That was a good offer that they put on the table,” Ricupero said. “And the drivers want this over with. Both sides want this over with. This has gone on for three years.”

To, check out the full agenda go here.

If you go

• WHAT: Central Dauphin School Board meeting.

• WHEN: 7 p.m. today.

• WHERE: Central Dauphin East High School's lecture hall, 626 Rutherford Road, Lower Paxton Township.

Source: The Patriot News