Carthage School Board to discuss stadium specs, bus driver pay

Oct. 15—CARTHAGE, Mo. — The specifications for a new baseball stadium to be built on the Carthage High School campus and a pay raise for bus drivers in the district will be considered Monday by the Carthage Board of Education.

The board will discuss the bid specifications for building a new baseball stadium on an empty corner east of the high school. A baseball stadium has been planned for that spot since the master plan for the high school campus on River Street was developed in 2006.

The deterioration of Carl Lewton Stadium in Municipal Park to the point where the 85-year-old seating and walls had to be torn down earlier this year forced the Tigers baseball team to play 2023 home games in Joplin and increased the urgency of the project.

In July, the Kent D. And Mary L. Steadley Memorial Trust announced it would give the district $2.5 million for the baseball stadium, and Superintendent Luke Boyer said the district has been fundraising since September to add to that donation.

"In the bid proposal we're considering on Monday, it'll be the full baseball field, the turf, the lights, concession stands, dugout, a small press box — the amenities you'd normally see in a baseball field," Boyer said. "We're going to try to do it right. The items such as concession stand and dugout and press box and the size of our seating areas — that will all basically be determined on where the prices come in."

Boyer said the district is pushing to collect as many donations or pledges as it can by the start of November so it will know before the Nov. 20 board meeting how much money is available for the project.

At that meeting, the board will know the bids and be able to decide what can be built now and what will have to be pushed to a potential second phase of the project.

"Over the last three or four weeks, we have raised or had pledged roughly $100,000," Boyer said. "We've received word from some other individuals that they are planning on doing something, but we don't know what that is yet. We're grateful for whatever sized donation they are."

Bus driver pay

The board will also discuss a pay and benefits package for bus drivers that district officials hope will attract more people to the job and help alleviate what the district has called a "severe driver shortage."

The shortage was bad enough that the district had to suspend prekindergarten routes to Pleasant Valley Elementary School for a week in late September. The superintendent himself has volunteered to take on routes to help with the lack of drivers.

Boyer said the package up for discussion on Monday would move drivers to an hourly pay rate and create step increases that the district hopes will be competitive with other districts in Southwest Missouri.

According to board documents, the pay rate would start at $18.75 an hour and increase over 20 steps to $24.07 an hour. The plan would set compensation for drivers who drive four hours a day and those who drive six hours a day.

All drivers would be eligible for retirement benefits, and four-hour-per-day drivers would have half their health insurance paid for by the district, while six-hour-per-day drivers would have their entire health insurance paid by the district.

If drivers have Affordable Care Act-approved health insurance and want to continue using that, they could waive the district's insurance plan and receive an additional $2.50 an hour.

Pay drivers who drive on trips for extracurricular and other programs would be paid $18 an hour, up from $14 an hour previously.

If approved by the district in November, the new plan would take effect on Jan. 1.

"The biggest change, and the reason why we're waiting for final approval, is we have some questions we still have to get answered about health insurance," Boyer said. "We have some spots we need filled quickly and we want to be able to promote this pay and benefits package."

Meeting details The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at Columbian Elementary School, 1015 W. Macon St.