NK schools decline option to outsource buses after study

At the request from New Kent’s Board of Supervisors, New Kent schools conducted a feasibility study on the possibility of outsourcing schools’ transportation department. And after a 15-minute presentation and a question and answer period that yielded more questions, school board members did not hesitate taking action.

School board members voted 4-0 to reject outsourcing transportation during Tuesday night’s work session. District 5 representative Gail Hardinge was not in attedance.

A presentation from Jason Moyer, a representative of Student Transportation of America, on outsourcing yielded two possibilities for the schools. The first consisted of a full-service package, where the current school bus fleet would be purchased for $1.7 million and replaced with hybrid diesel/propane buses, which could save up to $150,000 per year according to Moyer. The second option was a municipal lease, where buses would be leased, thus yielding savings that could reach $225,000 a year.

The representative continued his presentation, saying current bus drivers for New Kent schools would maintain their current routes, but be employed by his company. Moyer said savings from fuel, bulk purchases, and insurance play a key part for his company that services 200 school districts in 17 states and one province in Canada.

But the feasibility study plus the accompanying sales pitch only encouraged questioning from school board members on the effectiveness of the company.

“What if we have this service for two or three years and we were dissatisfied?” asked board chairwoman Leigh Quick. “How would you all handle discipline problems on the bus as well?”

At the request of the school board, director of transportation Stephen King also had concerns about the presentation.

“Propane fuel only gets up to 4.8 miles per gallon, while diesel gets up to nine miles per gallon,” King said. “Did you all factor in video cameras for monitoring the bus as well as radios for communication?”

Moyer was also questioned about how the company is addressing the Affordable Healthcare Act. Moyer said they were looking into the situation, which obviously sent a red flag to supervisors during discussions after the presentation.

“I am concerned that if we sell our fleet for $1.7 million and we are not happy with their performance, then we would have to buy all brand new buses and that would cost us $4.4 million,” said District 2 representative Dean Simmons. “It seems like the questions we asked, all the answers were ‘I don’t know.’”

“I think there may not be any cost benefit and this presentation had a natural bias,” chimed in vice-chairwoman Sarah Grier Barber.

“Adding an outside layer to the discipline problem concerns me,” said District 1 board member Brett Marshall. “Right now, things run smoothly and we have a chain of command. If we outsource this, it would break that chain.”

Quick also disapproved of the fact that Student Transportation of America’s definition of full-time employees are those working 40 hours a week.

“I don’t like that and it still doesn’t address the benefits issue,” she said.

After the discussion and a vote to not outsource transportation, superintendent of schools Rick Richardson presented a document from William O’Keefe, a citizen who asked for the county’s board of supervisors to take control of outsourcing transportation for the school system. According to Richardson, O’Keefe did not have a firm understanding of the law.

“According to the Virginia Constitution, the school board is legally charged with the safety and effective operation of schools,” said Richardson, posting the law on screen and saying the county’s board of supervisors may only address the issue through a joint audit with the school board’s permission.

“Mr. O’Keefe’s opinion says we need to be more efficient, but as you can tell, our schools are running at a 98.5% efficiency rate, and that study was conducted by an outside company.

“I have a lot of questions for Mr. O’Keefe as he says he has experiences in the field, but he has not provided any information of it,” the superintendent continued. “He has no documentation nor has he provided us with any information that supports his claims.

“I have not seen Mr. O’Keefe at any of our school board meetings unless he’s slipped in the back and for him to say the public has been misinformed about the facts is incorrect,” concluded Richardson.