Goldson Slams Ed Board Over Contracting

Board of Education member Darnell Goldson took on the role of whistleblower as he criticized the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) contracting process as unduly shielded from public oversight, and as overly favorable to the current school bus provider.

Goldson made those claims during a public hearing Monday night hosted by the Board of Alders Finance Committee in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.

His critique prompted NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon to respond to the Independent via email on Tuesday that the school system ​“strictly follows the City of New Haven’s purchasing policies and procedures,” and that the school district always makes sure that the Board of Alders or the Board of Education, as appropriate, provides oversight for these deals.

“To suggest that the school district opts for one form of contract over another in order to avoid scrutiny is a serious disservice,” Harmon wrote. (See more below for his response in full.)

The hearing took place nearly three weeks after Goldson — a former West Hills alder and former Board of Education president who has spent the past seven years as one of two elected members on the local ed board — submitted a communication calling on the alders to ​“review and investigate the policies and procedures related to the awarding [of] contracts at the Board of Education.”

It also was held roughly a month after Goldson cast the sole dissenting vote when the Board of Education decided to ditch a local Black-owned firm in favor of a Massachusetts-based company for a public schools cleaning contract. That local maintenance company, former Beaver Hills Alder Shafiq Abdussabur’s Eco-Urban Pioneers, has subsequently filed a lawsuit in state court against the city, NHPS, and the Board of Education alleging foul play in the request for proposal (RFP) process for that very same contract. (Click here to read a separate article about that lawsuit.)

Because of that ongoing lawsuit, Finance Committee Chair and Westville Alder Adam Marchand made clear during Monday’s hearing that he would not allow Goldson or any other members of the public to testify about the schools cleaning contract. He said city attorneys had cautioned the alders not to broach that subject during the hearing.

That meant that Goldson instead offered a more general critique of how the Board of Ed hands out large contracts on Monday. 

He zeroed in on one contract in particular as exemplary of what he described as bad process: the school system’s transportation contract with First Student. 

Goldson spoke at length on Monday about how the Board of Education has structured the school bus contract as a one-year deal with four annual renewals rather than as a five-year contract in order to avoid mandated aldermanic oversight on multi-year contracts.

He did not mention during the meeting that the latest school bus contract from 2019 is indeed structured as a multi-year deal and that it was voted on and approved by the Board of Alders. In follow up emails sent to the Independent on Tuesday, Goldson said that the duration of the latest school bus contract was changed in 2019 in part at his insistence. He also stressed that he has many other concerns with how this contract was awarded beyond just the structure of the terms. Then he sent a list of other recent non-transportation contracts that he said follow this same one-year rather than multi-year scheme. (See more on that below.)

"Policies That Creatively Skirt City Ordinances"

“During my time on the BOE I have witnessed a contracting awarding process that seems to morph and change over time, mainly based on who is in charge. I’ve also seen policies that creatively skirt city ordinances as well as Board of Education policies,” Goldson told the alders, reading directly from a written opening statement he had prepared in advance. (Click here to read that statement in full.) The written statement includes comments about the cleaning contract. Goldson did not read those aloud on Monday, due to Marchand’s advising him not to discuss that topic.

Goldson said that the Board of Education has ​“adopted a practice to avoid [Board of Alders] approval of contracts by creatively changing the length of contracts. For transportation, instead of bidding out a five-year contract, they write the contract as a one-year contract with four annual renewals, thereby avoiding BOA approval. Yet, the Mayor – representing the city — not the Superintendent of Schools, is the signing authority on the contract. This eliminates BOA and voter oversight on one of the largest contracts at the BOE at over $27 million.”

He also said that the transportation contract has a number of ​“special competitions [that] lead to lack of competition.” Namely, it requires that the contractor have a bus depot ​“within town boundaries.”

“That gives a distinct advantage to the incumbent” contractor, Goldson said Monday night.

And he said that the last time the transportation contract was put out to bid, interested applicants had only 60 days to respond. It’s ​“almost impossible for competing companies to adequately respond” in that time, he alleged.

All of these issues taken together lead to a ​“lack of competition,” Goldson said, which in turn ​“leads to increased costs.”

He said that the school system’s contract with First Student allows the school system to impose ​“financial sanctions to the bus company” for poor performance. But the Board of Education is ​“never able to enforce those sanctions because of a lack of competition.”

This inequity in the Board of Ed contracting process in general, and in how the school bus contract in particular is awarded, ​“has been weighing on my mind for many years,” Goldson told the alders. That’s why he decided to come forward on Monday night, he said.

Goldson put forward several recommended changes that the alders could consider in order to improve how the school system does its contracting. 

Those recommendations included, to quote directly from Goldson’s written statement: 

• Fix the ordinance to disallow the length-of-contract workaround the BOE has developed;

• Remove or modify the special conditions which limits competition;

• Codify into law the number of participants on the selection committee to allow for robust and diverse participation;

• Codify into law that the committee perform due diligence before the final selection of a bidder, and include those results in the final grading process;

• Extend and codify into law the length of time for bidders to respond to larger and more complex bids, especially those which call for large equipment purchases/outlays.

During the question-and-answer section of Monday’s hearing, the committee alders spent much of their time pressing Goldson for more details on how the Board of Ed allegedly avoids aldermanic oversight when awarding large contracts. They also asked for more details on the financial costs of a school transportation system that Goldson claimed is tilted towards benefiting one particular bidder.

“Can you provide specific examples of the contracts where the Board of Education is skirting the multi-year approval requirement by the Board of Alders?” Prospect Hill/Newhallville/Dixwell Alder Steve Winter asked.

Besides the transportation contract? Goldson asked. ​“On our agenda, we probably have five or six contracts every board meeting with this issue.”

“Do we get reimbursed for anything these bus companies fail on?” East Rock Alder Anna Festa asked. That is: If parents and students are left waiting at bus stops, and a bus never comes and they have to drive themselves to school or even hire a ride-share, does the bus company have to pay back the Board of Ed?

“No, we don’t get reimbursed,” Goldson said. ​“We’re supposed to be able to sanction them when they’re late or when buses don’t show up.” But because ​“they’re the only game in town,” the school system never seeks to financially punish the company. 

“The problem is they’re the only game in town because we developed a process that allows them to be the only game in town. There’s a whole bunch of bus companies that would love to compete for our business” but that can’t do so under the current system.

So the RFP for the transportation contract was only open for 60 days? Board of Alders President and West River Alder Tyisha Walker-Myers asked. What is ​“the normal practice since you’ve been on the Board of Education” for how long contract RFPs are usually left open? 

“I’ve asked time and time again for the administration” to provide clarity on that, Goldson said. He said he thinks that RFPs should be open for at least six months. ​“That gives enough time for bidders to respond and that gives time to transition” to new contractors. ​“We keep waiting for 30 to 60 days before a contract expires to go out to bid. … You really should start the bid process at least six months in advance.”

Goldson stressed that the alders are ​“the major funders for the Board of Education. If we have a $27 million contract, we need to have extra eyes on that. We need to be able to have the Board [of Alders] look at that. The taxpayers have no real input at the Board of Education,” as they don’t get to testify at committee hearings.

“There is not much that the Board of Alders asks from the Board of Education,” Goldson said. ​“You ask us to follow your RFP processes through your purchasing department, and you ask us to bring multi-year contracts” to the alders for final review and sign off. ​“Those are two of the main items.”

“It’s just frustrating for me to see year after year after year the negative effects that it has on the school system financial,” he said in critique of the school system’s transportation contract.

Current Bus Contract OK'd By Alders In 2019

First Student did not respond to an email request for comment by the publication time of this article.

The Independent examined past aldermanic meeting agendas and minutes to learn that the most recent school bus contract was set up as a multi-year deal, and the Board of Alders did hold a public hearing and vote on the matter back in 2019.

Specifically, the Finance Committee held a public hearing on two First Student transportation contracts in May 2019, and the full Board of Alders voted to approve those contracts in June of that year.

The alder-approved multi-year First Student contract for transporting out-of-town students with special needs extends from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2023 and costs $6.78 million in total. The alder-approved multi-year First Student contract for ​“Regular Education and Special Education school transportation service” also extends from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2023 and costs $107.85 million in total.

Reached by email on Tuesday, Goldson acknowledged that the latest school bus contracts were indeed put before the Board of Alders, ​“but only because of advocacy by myself to change the contracts from the previous 1‑year with four renewals.”

Just as he told the committee on Monday night, Goldson repeated that that 2019 contract ​“was the result of the company refusing to renew the 4th year renewal clause. Their refusal forced a truncated bid process of only 60 days, along with the must be housed in New Haven clause, limited competition to ZERO.”

He also said that the cleaning contract, which he was not able to discuss Monday night because of the committee alders’ lawsuit-induced prohibition, was a ​“perfect example of the 1‑yr, 4‑yr trick.” And he provided links to a handful of other recently approved Board of Education contracts — here, here, here, here, here and here – that he said are ​“just a few of the examples of the contracts with the 1‑yr 4‑yr deals that are purchased through operating funds” and that should receive Board of Alders scrutiny.

NHPS Response: All Proper Processes Followed

In response to a request for comment on Goldson’s testimony Monday night, NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon sent the Independent the following email statement on Tuesday:

“In putting contracts out to bid or developing RFPs, the New Haven Public Schools strictly follows the City of New Haven’s purchasing policies and procedures. In fact, the city’s purchasing platform incorporates procedural checks to ensure that city procedures are being followed as a precondition for completing a contract.

“The school district decides whether to set up a contract as a multiyear contract or a single-year renewable contract based entirely on what services are being purchased and on market circumstances. Oversight is a given in either case, whether by the Board of Alders or the Board of Education. To suggest that the school district opts for one form of contract over another in order to avoid scrutiny is a serious disservice. Such an attempt would be futile in any case.

“The transportation contract cited by Mr. Goldson in his testimony to the Alders was, in fact, a multiyear contract. … Please note that it stipulates approval by both the Board of Education and the Board of Alders.”

Harmon also passed along an email from NHPS Chief Operating Officer Thomas Lamb, who wrote that ​“the practice of utilizing an annual contract with multiple renewals is not a new practice and is in compliance with the City of New Haven purchasing primer.” He said that this practice has been commonplace among the city Purchasing Department, NHPS and ​“all departments for many years. The annual renewal of the contract must be approved by the Finance and Operations Committee and the Board of Education.”

Meanwhile, ​“true multi-year contracts” like the current transportation contracts, property leases ​“properly vetted and approved by purchasing sole source contracts exceeding $100,000 go before the Board of [Alders] as outlined by the City of New Haven Purchasing Department Procurement Primer.”

“All property leases, contracts and professional service agreements are presented to the Board of Education Finance and Operations Committee and the full NHPS Board of Education for approval,” Lamb continued. ​“Agreements and contracts cannot be created and processed through City of New Haven Corporation Counsel’s office until all Board of Education, City of New Haven purchasing and City Ordinances related to that contract are met. This process follows the RFC/RFA documents by City of New Haven Purchasing Department as attached and done through the City of New Haven contract management program called Veoci. Steps in this process are specific and cannot be circumvented.”