School Bus Contract Finalized

By Eliza Hallabeck

Following an executive session, the Board of Education voted 5 to 1 Tuesday, October 4, to approve the final contract between the school district and All-Star Transportation Inc, of Torrington.

School board Vice-Chair Debbie Leidlein was the sole vote against the motion. Board member David Nanavaty was not present for the meeting. Ms Leidlein was also the lone member of the board present who voted against entering into an executive session to discuss the contract.

Board of Education Chair William Hart said on Wednesday, October 5, the school board’s approval of the contract was the next step in the process after the board awarded the contract to All-Star in a 5 to 1 vote in early September.

He also said his board understands residents may be unhappy with the decision to award the contract to All-Star and not Newtown’s traditional bus drivers, individually contracted owner-operators. In response to some public participation speakers at the meeting Tuesday night and in the past, Mr Hart said once the board voted in September to award the contract there was no way to unaward the contract without giving All-Star the option of suing the district.

In the month since the contract was awarded to All-Star, Mr Hart said the language of the contract was being reviewed. There are some changes to the contract from the original bid document, Mr Hart said, but mostly, “nothing really” changed.

One change, Mr Hart pointed out, allows for the school district to hire owner-operators as a union to drive under All-Star’s supervision in the event a pending labor complaint is upheld by the State Board of Labor Relations. According to school district Business Director Ronald Bienkowski, the complaint is scheduled to go before the State Board of Labor Relations on December 29.

As previously reported in The Bee, the owner-operators complaint with the State Board of Labor Relations alleges the district violated the Municipal Employees Labor Relations Act (MELRA). The complaint, issued by attorney Henry F. Murray, alleges a violation of Section 7-470 (4) of MELRA in that the board has failed to bargain with the owner-operators through their elected contract committee with respect to its decision to subcontract school bus driving responsibilities.

That labor complaint hinges on three points: whether the owner-operators are employees and not contracted individuals; whether a committee representing the local drivers that has met with the Board of Education over the years to negotiate contracts is a labor union; and whether it was unfair for the board to seek outside services before bargaining with the owner-operators.

If the complaint is not upheld by the State Board of Labor Relations, Mr Hart said the part of the All-Star contract that deals with the owner-operators “will be thrown out.”

After the contract was put to bid, All-Star was the lowest qualified bidder for the 2012–17 contract, at just over $10.2 million. The collective owner-operators tendered the fourth lowest bid at $11.7 million, with First Student Transportation bidding just over $11 million and DATTCO presenting an $11.4 million bid.

On Wednesday, Mr Hart explained that if the State Board of Labor Relations complaint is upheld, the payment to All-Star will be lowered due to paying the district’s drivers directly. In that event, he said, the cost for transportation for the district will be decided in future deliberations with the drivers.

The five-year contract is for regular education routes in the district and does not include routes overseen by MTM Transportation Inc, which handles special needs and other transportation services in the district, or McCutchan Transportation, which oversees team-related transportation in the district.

Several people came to Tuesday’s meeting to voice support for maintaining the owner-operator system in Newtown, including Jim Allyn, who questioned the price the district puts on children’s safety, and Bridget Seaman, who said she believes the board’s decision on the contract went against the majority opinion in Newtown.

“It’s our town. It’s our tax money. It’s our kids,” said Ms Seaman, after asking for an audit of the “entire process” of awarding the contract.