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91BBAA
New Member
United States
3 Posts |
 Posted - 10/25/2008 : 06:23:31 AM
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I am considering a move to the state of Florida from the cold state of PA. Currently I am a licensed school bus driver, (have been since 1984) and have driven every type of bus on the road, like transit, and motorcoach.
I am also a PA state certified school bus instructor, and a light duty mechanic at our contractors place. Unfortunately, the weather here in the winter kills me, and my son and I want to make a move.
I have been looking at the Tampa area, as it seems really nice. I had considered Jacksonville, but it seems most of their buses are contracted from what I have read. I would like to work for a real district.
If anyone has any thoughts, please don't hesitate to share them with me. I would hate to make a move and then find out I cant get a job anywhere...
Many thanks in advance!
Shawn
http://www.schoolbusdriver.org |
Edited by - 91BBAA on 10/25/2008 06:28:05 AM
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Sam
Advanced Member
United States
390 Posts |
Posted - 10/25/2008 : 11:43:20 AM
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Hello, and welcome to the land of the really old people! LOL My husband and I live and work in the Tampa Bay area. The fleets in Hillsbourough (Tampa), Pinellas (St Pete/Clearwater) and Pasco (New Port Rishey/Dade City) are NOT CONTRACTED. We are School Board Employees. Starting pay in Pinellas County (where I work) is $11.50 for 6 months, then goes to $12.50 and you get a $1/hour bonus for the first six months. Our Union is used to be SEIU, but it's morphed into FPSU (Florida Public Services Union), and it's kind of falling apart. Pasco County (where we live) has Pasco United School Employees Union. They seem to be pretty strong. However, Florida is a "right-to-work" state, and unions have no real bargaining power here.
Pinellas COunty just changed from a choice program that provided transportation for any student to just about any school in the county to a neighborhood school program. We operate on a 3-tier system:
High Schools: 6:45-1:50
Elementary Schools: 8:20 - 2:40
Middle Schools 9:25 - 4:15
Exceptional Student Centers: 9:35 - 3:35 (profound/severely handicapped students)
We have 6 bus compounds (3 large and 3 small), every compound has fuel pumps and a garage, and one centrally located body shop. There are over 900 buses, and approximately 750 routes. We are fully staffed right now, with all routes having an assigned driver. We also staff approximately 18% substitutes (Relief Driver) who are on the clock 8 hours per day whether they work or not, and receive an $.85/hour incentive pay. (This is what I've done for the past 5 years.)
I clocked nearly 60 hours this week, and drove every shift I worked. My compound has 88 active drivers, 74 routes, and 14 Relief Drivers. I also had 2 field trips this week: a day trip to an orchestra concert, and a night trip for high school football. We receive overtime pay, NOT comp-time. We earn 8 hours of sick time per month, 3 days of which may be used as personal time per year. Sick time rolls over, personal time reverts to sick time. I have over 4 weeks of sick time saved up. There are quarterly "Perfect Attendance" bonuses of $75, as well as a "Certificate of Distinction" continuing education program which can garner you an extra $200 every December once you complete the training.
The cost of living here is very high. My car insurance is double what it was in NC because of the tourist factor. Our property taxes and home-owners insurance are sky-high. Property values were severely inflated a few years ago, and are just now starting to drop to reasonable levels. We DO get tropical weather systems here - our first day of school was canceled due to Hurricane Fay (which never came here.) More than half of the drivers at my compound live in a neighboring county because Pinellas County is expensive. Our gasoline is around $2.75/gallon today (Sat Oct 25, 2008)
There will ALWAYS be work here. It may not be what you want, but with all the tourism and the retirees and the snowbirds there's always something going on.
We like it here mainly because of the weather. We can go outdoors year round and enjoy the beaches, theme parks, and cities.
This list should get you started.
Pinellas County http://www.pinellas.k12.fl.us/
Pasco County http://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/default.html
Hillsborough County http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/schools/
Let me know if you have any more questions about the Tampa Bay area! |
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considering a move to FL from PA some questions...
