Some Parents Upset Over District Bus Change

Some parents that attended Thursday night’s special Board of Education meeting did so regarding the Patchogue-Medford School District’s recent decision to change bus companies.

At the May 21 Board of Education meeting, the board voted to award a transportation contract for large buses to Montauk Bus Lines. The contract starts in the 2013-2014 school year and is in effect through the 2015-2016 school year. The vote took place after the canvass of votes for the 2013-2014 Patchogue-Medford School Budget and the ratification of the election of board members.

Assistant superintendent of business Donna Jones said that a proposal was sent out to all bus companies that wanted to respond, and a rubric with 10 specific areas for each bus company to respond to was scored as part of a company’s proposal. The area of cost accounted for 25 percent of the scoring of the rubric.

“In terms of what happened we had four responders and in terms of scale on a one-year aggregate the difference between the lowest bidder and highest bidder was $1.9 million in change,” Jones said. “The difference on a three-year aggregate between the lowest and highest was $5 million dollars, and that is a significant number to the district but its not the only determining factors.”

Other factors were the 10 areas of the rubric, which were previous experience of the proposer in school transportation, management in performance of contracts in school transportation, safety program, accident history, record of drivers, fleet inspection record, maintenance schedule of vehicles, financial analysis, insurance requirements and cost.

Jones said that all bus companies had to meet certain criteria for safety in order for the district to consider a proposal. Should the new bus company not meet the district’s expectations, Jones said the school has their attorneys and procedures that can be followed. Thomas Donofrio, BOE president, clarified that the school district is not locked into the bus company.

Jones said the decision was not a quick one to come to, and that each part of the criteria was reviewed.

A resident asked the Board where has the savings from switching bus companies gone, and trustee Brett Houdek responded that part of it went toward keeping the overall budget under the tax cap. Jones added that some of the overall savings went toward new computer labs, repairs and other academic and capital needs.

Houdek said that the new bus company will also be purchasing a number of new buses as part of their agreement. Jones said the company is based out of Center Moriches, but is looking into possibly getting a yard within the school district.

A few residents that spoke during the meeting live within the district but are also current employees of the outgoing Suffolk Bus company. They voiced disappointment that they are going to experience a decrease in pay as a result of the change.

Linda Johnson of Medford said during public comment that there are a number of Suffolk bus drivers that live within the district, and felt let down by the decision.

Another resident who said she has been driving in the district for 15 years for Suffolk Bus said in the meeting that she is currently facing seeing her salary reduced.

Debbie Roach, a parent who is running a “Save Our School Buses” Facebook Page, told Patch Thursday afternoon that her child’s bus driver informed her of the change.

“A lot of our drivers do live here, they have their kids that go to the district so I’d hate for them to all lose their jobs,” Roach said.

What are your thoughts on the change in bus company for the next school year? Type them into the comments section below the article.

This story was originally published on June 24, 2013 at 7:24 p.m. It was updated June 17 at 1:50 p.m. with the safety rubric categories as received from the school district.