Acting on a series of complaints about timeliness and cost, Regional School District 17 has contracted with Student Transportation of America (STA) to manage the district's student transportation system. The conversion to STA will allow the district to spend less on transportation services and to resolve many of the difficulties with routes.

A letter from Superintendent

of Schools Gary S. Mala

announcing the specifics of the impact of the changes and a Conversion Fact Sheet was sent to parents on April 9. The letter addressed several concerns voiced by drivers to parents, such as the alleged lack of a bid process before the contract switch and drivers' job security.

According to Mala, bids were secured in February 2009 and discussions with the company began in the fall. The specifications for the bid were developed by a transportation consultant.

Mala said the Board of Education "has been negotiating with the company for a considerable period of time. Negotiations are not public.

"Clearly as a district we have had difficulties for a couple of years now. It all has to do with not having an adequate number of drivers to run the routes needed to transport our children. It has always been the issue-it's not the drivers themselves, we just don't have enough," said Mala.

All of the drivers have continued in their positions and the STA has added drivers.

"There's no cancellation of transportation to athletic events-we've had that. There's no changing of routes on a daily basis at each school. It's just having an adequate number of drivers to cover the routes," Mala said.

There are, he admitted, still issues.

"Obviously there's a transition period. You can't fix it instantly," Mala said. "There are continuing issues that are being resolved as they are brought forward."

On top of the problem of not having enough drivers, transportation employees "are away from their jobs for different reasons," he said adding, "We average three or four a day out on top of not having enough drivers. It exacerbates a difficult situation."

It will still take time to solve the district's transportation problems.

"Certainly STA has to have time to look at what we're doing and then make some changes. They are beginning to address

the immediate needs of not

having enough people," said Mala. "When we open the next school year, we certainly shouldn't have anything such as we've experienced the past two openings."

Mala said he has not received any negative feedback from parents since the conversion.

"I really appreciate the patience level of parents who have experienced the difficulties because I think we fell short of our responsibility to provide something-a basic transportation service-that is predictable and consistent.

"I marvel at the patience of our parents. I'd like to say I haven't been called very bad things over the past couple of years about transportation difficulties, but I can't say that," Mala admitted.

According to the Conversion Fact Sheet, converting to an outside contractor for transportation services as compared to maintaining district ownership will save $111,918.17 in fiscal year 2010-'11, $243,508.28 in fiscal year 2011-'12, and $175,829.15 in fiscal year 2012-'13.