Ed Board Vote Leaves Bus Deal In Limbo

The city’s school district has a new transportation director — but may soon be without a school bus provider, as the Board of Education failed to agree on what should happen next after First Student’s current contract ends on June 30.

That was the upshot of Monday’s latest Board of Education meeting, which took place online via Zoom and in-person at Barack Obama School on Farnham Avenue.

The school board voted down a motion to grant the city’s current school bus provider, First Student, a new three-year, $93 million contract starting July 1 that would cover both regular and special education routes. 

That means that, at least as of now, the district does not have a bus provider lined up to transport city students after First Student’s current contract expires at the end of June. 

After the three-year proposal failed following a debate around cost, splitting contracts, and trying to find a more affordable provider, Monday’s meeting ended with the board voting to send school district representatives back to the table to try to negotiate a one-year extension to First Student’s current deal. (See more on that below.)

Monday also saw the board officially hire LaShell Rountree as NHPS’s new director of transportation, filling the gap left by Carl Jackson’s resignation last June.

Rountree will step into the position on June 5 at a salary of $130,000. For the past 20 years Rountree has been the Director of School Operations for Amistad Academy Middle School.

Rountree, who grew up in New Haven, thanked Supt. Iline Tracey, the school board, and her ​“new team” for approving her new role.

She described serving New Haven as ​“near and dear to my heart.” And Tracey described Rountree as very active in the community.

“I’m going to roll up my sleeves, I’m going to jump into it,” Rountree said. ​“We want to make sure that the students are being transported with safety, care, and in an equitable way.”

After approving the appointment of Rountree on Monday, the board moved on to discuss possible action for a new transportation contract for the public school district. That conversation took place in private executive session for an hour and 20 minutes. 

Upon returning from executive session, Board of Education Vice President Matt Wilcox made a motion to award the NHPS transportation contract for both its regular and special education services to First Student again starting on July 1 and running through June 30, 2026. 

The proposed three-year contract with First Student was for $93,646,128.58 with an option of adding on two additional fiscal years pending approval from the Board of Alders.

This year, district leaders sought to award multiple transportation service contracts for two pre-determined subdivisions of service including ​“regular Home-to-School and related supplemental services” and ​“Special Needs Home-to-School” and related supplemental services. 

The new RFP reads: ​“The NHPS provides transportation services to approximately 17,000 students attending 11 high schools, 2 middle schools, 30 elementary and K‑8 schools, 9 early childhood program locations, and 19 other education centers. Services are provided on three primary transportation tiers using a total of approximately 315 route vehicles. Additional transportation is provided to support athletic and extra-curricular programming. All services are managed and administered by the NHPS transportation staff.”

By soliciting multiple bids, Wilcox said the district’s transportation team had competition for its bus service contract for the first time in years. 

The district used an outside company to write up the RFP. Wilcox made his case on Monday for why he thought the process was fair. He said the proposed new contract with First Student was scored unanimously in favor of the district’s long-time school bus provider. 

Wilcox also said the team of district transportation experts explained that sticking with one contractor for all busing services would result in more cost savings than splitting, say, the regular and special education transportation services into several contracts. 

“This is the most cost effective way,” Wilcox said in support of awarding First Student one whole contract.

Board of Education member Darnell Goldson argued that the RFP process was not fair and eliminated two contracts with lower bids than First Student. 

During Monday’s meeting Goldson moved to amend Wilcox’s original motion to approve the three-year contract. He urged his colleagues instead to go forward with splitting the district’s regular and special education bus services between First Student and a separate contract for special education busing. 

One option for special education busing, Goldson said, is the Long Island-based transportation company WE Transport, Inc.

Goldson recommended that the school board approve a three-year contract with First Student for regular busing of 257 daily routes but not for special education services. 

Instead, he proposed the district try to negotiate a one-year extension of its current contract with First Student to provide busing for special education services while leaders return to the bidding process to find a second contractor to focus on providing its 57 daily special education routes.

Wilcox spoke against Goldson’s proposed amendment, which had been seconded by school board President Yesenia Riveria. 

“I think that this process has been a success,” Wilcox said. 

He added that the First Student contract recommendation was unanimously made by the scoring team. 

“The pricing is also advantageous,” he added. ​“Splitting this means more money, not a savings, and a lot of issues for building leaders or parents.”

Wilcox also pointed out that the current First Student contract is nearing an end and transportation is needed for summer school and the upcoming school year. It also would save the district more than $2 million dollars over the three-year timeline. 

“This amendment creates a logistical nightmare for the school district,” Board of Education secretary Edward Joyner said in opposition to Goldson’s proposal. 

Joyner argued that the process for the transportation RFP was the best this time around than any other time since he’s been on the board. 

“It followed all rules regarding the scorers, the efficacy of the instrument, the fact that it was double-blind because it used Bonfire, and the fact that it will save the district $2.4 million over three years,” Joyner added. ​“We’re not in the business of charging tax payers more money for our system. We’re not in the business of creating chaos for teacher, principals, students, and families. We’re in the business of creating as much order as we can possibly do.”

Mayoral candidate Tom Goldenberg backed Goldson’s argument and spoke out against only contracting First Student in a recent press release sent out before Monday’s meeting. 

Goldson’s proposed amendment ultimately failed, with only Goldson and Rivera voting in support, and board members Wilcox, Joyner, Justin Elicker, Orlando Yarborough, and Abie Benitez voting against. 

“We don’t need to give a new superintendent more problems to deal with, we need to settle this once and for all,” Joyner said. 

However, Wilcox’s original motion to approve a new $93 million, three-year contract for First Student for both regular and special education services also failed. Wilcox, Joyner, and Elicker voted in support, while Benitez, Goldson, Rivera, and Yarborough voted no.

As a result of the failed motion of approval, Wilcox moved to direct district staff to negotiate with First Student for a one-year extension on its current contract. 

All members except for Goldson voted in favor of having the district team return back to the negotiating table with First Student.