Monday, September 16, 2019

Worcester Public Schools Finance and Operation subcommittee on transportation

My phone blew up with messages about Sullivan buses being late as I was driving here. The report, of course, is here

Present is only Foley and McCullough

Foley: to review the bids and the options of transportation services
received recommendation from the Superintendent, review of the bid process, review of self-operation, note on field trips, comparison of pros and cons
signed MOUs limiting non-service credits to Durham
"the School Committee has the legal and fiduciary to make the best interest of our students, our families, and our community"
three areas:
  • pricing and financial impact
  • service history
  • capacity of district to self-operate
Binienda: recommendation is to award the bid to Durham
have been meeting often
results of that meeting are the MOU attached
"have really worked on becoming great partners; we have the same goal in mind: to provide great service for the Worcester Public Schools"
were charging credits a year after it occured
would be advantageous to not have to go back to a long time ago
says MOU is "a great document...allows us to be a great partner to Durham and them to us"
final amount is $100K
"I find that Durham this year, from my point of view this year has been better"
"last year, my phone was ringing two weeks straight"
"know that Durham has had challenges this year with drivers coming in"
challenges covering routes; WPS is "helping out"
need four more buses; two are coming from Durham and two are WPS
district in process of looking for place for buses
"why not" self transportation?
"still building the school side"
bus driver shortage for the country "that would be a challenge for us"
"I think our readiness for that right now--we're not ready, and I think that's a progression of something we would talk about after the Durham contract ends"

Foley: initial bid represented 15% increase; now revised to 8.3%
but "net to public schools is actually a $1.1M increase given the credits going back and the price increase"
"do you think the only reason they reduced the bid was the self-operating option?"
Binienda: no "Durham really wants to continue to work with the Worcester Public Schools; in my opinion, it didn't really have an effect on that"
Foley: report covers costs completely?
Binienda: "We have great faith in Brian Allen's skill in doing this, so I do think those costs are accurate, but there are things that could happen"
"if we're going to talk about something that might happen three years from now, we should revisit it then"
Foley: what could happen?
Binienda: "there are things that could go wrong with buses...the economy...there are things that could wrong in three years"
Foley: would save $2.1M with self-operation?
Allen: correct
Foley: and we agree that the numbers here are accurate; "if anything, these are pretty conservative" extrapolting out from current service, "would be closer to $3M" a year
Foley: how many teachers is $2.1M?
Allen: "that's about 30 teachers...close to 100 IAs"
Foley: could save 44% to 83% on field trips
"being able to save our schools and our PTOs significant money on field trips"
you mentioned free buses to DCU and Hanover: is that included in the bid?
Binienda: "that wasn't part of the conversation"
"that has nothing to do with the bid"
Foley: do you bring it before the school committee as donation?
Binienda: "Nope, we don't bring it before the school committee"
that would be illegal
Foley; what are the credits?
Allen: is a more extensive list of credits that could be taken
Foley: why are we crediting those back to Durham when they were late?
Binienda: "we said they were late and either we couldn't prove it...some of that, we presented a bill in June, and there wasn't enough time for them to address it, even as we were meeting weekly with us, and so this is some of the money"
Foley: "how are we turning around and giving those dollars back" for late buses at Roosevelt?
Binienda: "that's been the process in the past, too...we knew that some of them were going to be brought back by earlier research"
Foley: seems that it would have an impact on the bid
Binienda: "I don't agree with you"
Foley: "probably won't be the first time tonight we disagree"
Foley: history of credit back
Allen: closer to $250,000 a year
Foley: service is a critical component: "if there were exemplary service in place, I could see spending additional dollars" but there aren't
why is there no information on current service of Durham?
Binienda: "I don't think today is really what today is about...I think we've been working through service with Durham. They come to a meeting every week."
"one of the reason I like working with Durham, they see the problem and they work to correct it...they want to come to the table and talk about it"
Foley: my concern are systemic issues over several years
Foley: having been looking at self-operation over nine years due to lack of competition in bidding process
notes years of service of WPS transportation staff
"we've been moving towards this point for the past several years"
how many buses do we run?
Allen: currently running 36 midsized buses, 13 big buses
Durham 84 big buses going 86; 21 wheelchair buses
Foley: do we do maintenance of the buses?
Allen: yes
Foley: projected budget talks about using dollars involved to hire the staff necessary to support staff necessary
run our own food services, picked up our own autism services, members of a special education collaborative
"when you're looking at contracted vendors versus internal running it, there are pros and cons. But we have already done this very effectively"

McCullough:
have to discuss potential cost savings
"there is a concern at this time at taking away from" educational focus expressed by superintendent
but "we really do have to ask these questions"
comments received from parents and families
"it's never been a reflection of the drivers" but it's a customer service complaints
"hard for us to ignore current service concerns"
pleased to hear the calls are "slightly fewer this year"
"is there a reason to believe that drivers calling out was an unusual situtation?"
Durham: increased standby drivers and "battle the callouts"
"if you look at callouts this week and last week, it's a drastic improvement"
"have a new class starting tomorrow"
RJ Constagno (sp?)
McCullough: given the current nationwide issue with bus drivers, monitor to driver program
anything we can do to work with union and other organizations to get more interested in a career option?
Allen: those are excellent suggestions: central Mass workforce, running NightLife
more avenues are something we would look into a pursue
McCullough: offer jobs to current drivers?
Allen: within civil service regs, yes
McCullough: was supposed to be an app
Allen: anticipate having that operational this school year
McCullough: if we were to move at self-op, what would be the timeline?
Binienda: agree that there is not time
Foley: you're saying that the time between now and June is not sufficient
would it have been sufficient between August and June?
It takes more than a year to do the prep?
Binienda: yes

Monfredo: supports contract with Durham
Biancheria: question about insurance, argues we need to stay with diesel because (she says) it is safer, says turnaround on bus stop changes were too quick
what are we focusing on with education?
Binienda: was getting used to having more routes last year, "was difficult"
"that's one of the reasons I know the reason why we're not ready now"
Allen notes that WPS ran all trips every day year
In marked contrast with the Durham
Biancheria would like to see a report from an outside company rather than one internal

apologies...my wifi went and then I had to get to another meeting...note that this article from WCVB about the terrible time of students from Nelson Place getting home from school Friday broke during the meeting, and here's T&G coverage from Steve Foskett


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