HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Double sessions at certain Guam public schools are costing the Department of Public Works about $40,000 in overtime for bus drivers per pay period, according to DPW Director Vince Arriola, who said he’s hoping to get that money reimbursed.
“As you know, there’s double sessions at (John F. Kennedy High School) and Simon Sanchez (High School), and there’s also double sessions at Okkodo High School and F.B. Leon Guerrero (Middle School). … We are using bus drivers from different satellite stations to make sure these children are at school on time and at home at the earliest,” Arriola told lawmakers Friday during a public hearing on the status of road repairs, bus drivers, post-typhoon recovery efforts and other issues.
“My position is the double sessions weren’t caused by DPW. I’ve got to work with (the Guam Department of Education) and see if they’ve got the funding to reimburse us. The way I see it, I think they should. So, it’s a matter of working with them,” Arriola added later.
Sen. Chris Barnett, who chairs the legislative committee on education, wanted to know about DPW’s busing capacity, noting that GDOE indicated it could not open up more campuses because of challenges in bus operations and shortages among school bus drivers.
Later, Barnett specified that he had asked the GDOE superintendent if double sessions at JFK would continue until the new Simon Sanchez High School – an ongoing project – is completed. The superintendent said he didn’t know because the education department would need to consider DPW’s busing capacity, prompting his question, Barnett said.
Arriola said they’ve had to augment school bus drivers in the Tamuning, Harmon and Yigo substations, as well as bring in buses from as far down south as Yona to ensure that students at schools with double session get to where they need to be on time.
“The real concerning one there is the afternoon session. Afternoon session gets out at 5 p.m., and right now, the earliest that the last child gets home is 7 p.m. And we’re really trying to bring that down shorter. It’s a tough situation we’re in,” Arriola said.
DPW Deputy Director Linda Ibanez said Public Works picked up 11 drivers from the first and second cycles of a school bus driver boot camp and recently picked up eight drivers from a third cycle.
“We’re trying to increase our manpower capacity, but at the same time, we’re seeing a mass exodus with retirement for the school bus drivers,” Ibanez said.
“What we’re also doing is we included our supervisors and leaders. We got them to pick up the slack from the regular bus drivers. So they’re able to drive to help with the double sessions. So that’s why our manpower overtime increased because the leaders and supervisors are also put behind the wheel,” Ibanez added.
The Department of Public Works director said the department is paying about $40,000 per pay period in bus drivers’ overtime pay since some public schools have been sharing campuses.
