The School Board Impasse

For years, Newtown’s Board of Education argued against competitive elections of its membership saying that it did not want the board to become divided along partisan lines. The elections these days do have contested seats, with three political parties endorsing candidates in the last election. Yet the current divide on the school board, which has paralyzed its deliberations on a proposed package of transportations services, appears to have nothing to do with party politics. Republicans and Democrats are represented on both sides of the issue in a 3-3 voting deadlock on the board. (Normally, a seventh member of the Board of Education would break the tie, but one member, Lillian Bitman, is taking a temporary medical leave from her school board duties.)

The proposed contract has stirred controversy since it would award the major portion of the specified transportation services to a large out-of-town firm even though a local firm, MTM, which owns fleet of buses and vans that operates in close coordination with Newtown independent owner/operators, was the overall low bidder for the contract. Splitting the contract and awarding the larger part to All-Star Transportation, LLC, of Torrington, was a money-saving idea that came from the school district’s business manager and a hired consultant. The move threatens to upset Newtown’s longstanding tradition of hiring local school bus drivers to transport its children and will, according to its owners, put MTM out of business. The issue has repeatedly filled the school board meeting room and The Bee’s Letter Hive with passionate demonstrations of support for MTM both from the local drivers themselves and many of the parents who have grown to trust and depend on them over the years.

Those on the school board who are supporting All-Star’s bid to take over some routes in Newtown differ from those who are supporting MTM and the owner/operators mostly in where they are taking advice. The All-Star supporters are listening intently to school administrators, and MTM supporters are listening intently to the public. The political ramifications of that were not lost on one All-Star supporter, David Nanavaty. He took pains to argue weakly that the near unanimous MTM support by the public at school board meetings was “by no means a majority of the town” — just before suggesting that the Board of Education should turn the whole matter over to the schools’ central administration “to make the decision for us.” To that we can add with far more certainty that the Newtown school district’s central administration is “by no means a majority of the town.”

Perhaps the most intriguing comment on the long rhetorical path to the current impasse came from John Dufour, one of the owners of All-Star. “I didn’t intend to bid this contract because I don’t take small operators out of business. I’ve never done that before.” But, he said, “I was led to believe that it was probably going to happen anyway here and that this [MTM] was going to be replaced and we were encouraged to come here and bid.” His comment reveals that someone in the school administration was anticipating, even welcoming, MTM’s demise even as the bids were going out.

We would like to make one last appeal to those on the school board who are so eager to start dismantling Newtown’s homegrown owner/operator school transportation system in favor of becoming the 27th client of the firm from Torrington. Please start listening to what your town is telling you. Do not undermine a school bus system that Newtown believes in. Do not strike a blow against school bus drivers who have spent years winning the trust and confidence of local children and their parents. Do not kill a local business and employer. And finally, since we have contested seats on the Board of Education these day, do not underestimate the memory of voters.