During 10 months of the school year, Lamar Borger, Lisa Duffield, and Debbie Reppert earn $105 a day as school bus drivers.

When school ends each June, they accept jobs cleaning Parkland classrooms, toilets, science labs and other school facilities for $8.06 an hour.

Borger commented on the situation during a recent school board meeting.

"We are a group of employees who don't get a lot of fanfare," Borger said. "Two years ago, the pay was cut $2 an hour. It's an insult."

Reppert then addressed the board.

"In summer, we work double the time for less than half the pay," she said, adding they do not qualify for unemployment compensation as the district offers them work.

"We work even harder during the summer," Duffield said.

The trio reported only five individuals are paid the bus driver rate during the summer.

District Superintendent Richard Sniscak explained to The Press the summer employment positions.

"These are seasonal employment opportunities," Sniscak said. "We hire high schoolers, college students and adults for summer maintenance work. A first-year employee is paid $7.75 an hour. The second year or more is $8.06 an hour. We value these employees. We advertise for these jobs. Anyone can apply or choose not to apply."

He reported the district changed the summer payment amount two years ago to save money in response to a $16 million budget deficit.

If a summer employee worked for the district in some capacity during the school term, he or she was paid an additional $2 for cleaning. That pay bump was dropped as everyone was doing the same jobs and also as a cost-saving measure, Sniscak said.

He said buses are not used to haul students during the summer.

The five bus drivers who are paid the regular contracted rate are needed to move the buses in and out of the garage or to other places as required.

Because buses may be driven only by people with CDL licenses, the district employs five drivers for summer use.

Although the district hires bus drivers to clean schools in summer, the individuals are not driving buses then.

"We don't pay bus driver rates for cleaning rooms," Sniscak said.

He said there are many 10-month employees, such as clerical workers, teaching assistants and cafeteria personnel in addition to bus drivers.

All of them are welcome to apply for summer maintenance jobs at the designated rate of pay which may be lower than what they earn during the school year, Sniscak said.