Bellingham Public Schools · Teamsters
A Bus Driver’s Guide to Clock Hours
What happens when time is added to your route, or taken off it.
Your contracted clock hours
Your contracted clock hours are the time that counts for your pay group
and for these rules. They are your full day — morning, midday, and
afternoon added together — rounded to the nearest 15 minutes.
You may already be driving the new times as soon as the office
changes the route. These rules say when that new time becomes
contracted, when you may take another driver’s route, and when your
route goes up for bid.
What usually happens
Most months during the school year have an end of month bid. It is
the last five school days of the month, and routes with bigger adds
that have already lasted 15 school days then go up for bid. Those
months are October, November, December, January, February, March,
and April. A bigger cut uses the seniority choice once that cut has
lasted 15 school days. Only days when students are in school count.
Morning, midday, and afternoon count as one route. While a 15 day
wait window is still open, any new changes during that window are
added to the total and a new 15 day wait window begins.
Smaller add
Under 30 minutes added
The extra time becomes contracted on the school day after it has
lasted 15 school days without additional changes made. If
additional changes are made to the route during those 15 school
days, they are taken into account (combined with the previous
changes) and the 15 school day count-down restarts. If that new
total is still under 30 minutes, it becomes contracted on the
school day after the new 15 school days. If it reaches 30
minutes, it is no longer a smaller add. Smaller adds at the
beginning of the year (September) all wait until October 1 to
be contracted (instead of waiting 15 school days).
Art. 3.08(b)(3)
Art. 3.08(a)(8)(c)
Bigger add
30 minutes or more added
The extra time must last 15 school days. Routes with bigger adds
that have already lasted 15 school days then go up for bid during
the last five school days of the month.
Art. 3.08(b)(1)
Smaller cut
Under 30 minutes taken off
A smaller cut stays open for 15 school days, the same as a
smaller add. Any other change in those 15 school days is added
to it. If the total stays under 30 minutes, the shorter time
becomes contracted on the school day after those 15 school days.
If the total reaches 30 minutes, it is a bigger cut.
Art. 3.08(b)(4)
Bigger cut
30 minutes or more taken off
Similar to a bigger add, the 30 or more minutes cut to your
hours must last 15 school days, at which point you will get
written notice. You then have two school days to take a route
held by a driver with less seniority, or to keep your route.
Before October 1, the cut does not have to last 15 school days.
You get written notice right away, and those two school days
start then.
Art. 3.08(b)(2)
Art. 3.08(a)(8)(b)
Beginning of the school year
The first month of the school year (September) and the last two
months of the school year (May and June) don’t have an end of month
bid. Instead, a bigger add in September goes up for bid once it has
lasted 15 school days. If those 15 school days are still unfinished
on October 1, drivers sign during October’s end of month bid.
Your route is compared with the route you bid at the start of the year.
Smaller change
Under 30 minutes, added or taken off
Normally, a smaller add or a smaller cut becomes contracted on
the school day after it has lasted 15 school days. At the
beginning of the school year, that count-down does not apply. A
smaller change becomes contracted on October 1, whether time was
added or taken off, as long as the total stays under 30 minutes.
September changes under 30 minutes add together until that day,
because the wait stays open.
Art. 3.08(a)(8)(c)
Bigger add
30 minutes or more added
Normally, a bigger add must last 15 school days, and then it goes
up for bid during the last five school days of the month. At the
beginning of the school year, there is no end of month bid. A
bigger add goes up for bid once it has lasted 15 school days. If
those 15 school days are still unfinished on October 1, drivers
sign during October’s end of month bid.
Art. 3.08(a)(8)(a)
Bigger cut
30 minutes or more taken off
Normally, a cut of 30 minutes or more must last 15 school days,
at which point you will get written notice. You then have two
school days to take a route held by a driver with less seniority,
or to keep your route. At the beginning of the school year, the
cut does not have to last 15 school days. You get written notice
right away, and those two school days start then.
Art. 3.08(a)(8)(b)
End of the school year
The last two months of the school year (May and June) don’t have an
end of month bid.
Smaller adds, smaller cuts, and bigger cuts still follow the usual
15-school-day rules.
Art. 3.08(b)(1)
What “up for bid” means
Drivers can use their seniority to ask for the route. You have two
school days to sign up. If you do not sign in those two school days,
that counts as saying no.
Only a bigger add goes up for bid. A bigger cut is the seniority
choice. It is not posted for other drivers to bid.
If you win a bid onto a different route, you cannot bid back onto the
route you just left when that route is posted because you left it.
The new route, and the other route changes that come from that bid,
all start on the same day.