Sam Gurwitt Photo
New Haven has worked out another contract change with bus company First Student, this time to pay them 85 percent of their usual rate when buses are idle due to Covid-related school closures. The district would pay the company 55 percent of the rate if drivers are furloughed.
The New Haven Public Schools Board of Education voted 5 – 2 for the new terms on Wednesday at a special meeting, with Darnell Goldson and Tamiko Jackson-McArthur opposed.
“I like that this gives us the flexibility that this year is going to require. It’s going to serve us well as we move through this crazy year,” said board member Matt Wilcox.
The district’s lawyers had settled a $1.5 million decrease to the First Student contract in the summer for time buses were idle after the state ordered all schools closed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. This meant that the district was still paying the company around $7.3 million for those months. That sum covered driver salaries among other expenses.
This time around, the district is estimating the negotiation will save the district $2.15 million out of $22 million the district would have spent for the school year. First Student has to submit documentation of their actual costs each quarter to ensure that the company is not keeping more money than they need to keep the fleet ready, according to board attorney Elia Alexiades.
Goldson objected to paying First Student so much. He argued that the district should not have to pay First Student 55 percent of the contract rate for non-labor costs. He also noted that the district is covering the cost of disinfecting buses when buses are running and said he was not happy with that outcome.
“Are you suggesting they need to get 55 percent to keep the fleet running when employees are not there?” Goldson asked.
Alexiades responded that covering reasonable, non-labor costs like bus leases are part of the state executive order that the attorneys were negotiating under. He said that the two sides also concluded that disinfecting buses to prevent the spread of Covid-19 was beyond the cleaning responsibilities the company agreed to in their contract.
“In negotiation, you give and take on some things. Certainly we would like to save that money, but that’s not where the negotiation led,” Alexiades said.
Jackson-McArthur said after the meeting that she voted no because she is worried that she is not getting the full story from the administration these days. She said that this distrust is related to a report in the New Haven Register that teacher union leadership and the administration disagree about how involved the union was in the recent decision to allow students with disabilities back into school buildings next week. She said in the article that this knowledge would have changed her vote.
“I’m really uncomfortable right now. I am not seeing the leadership I expected,” Jackson-McArthur said.
Pandemic Bus Safety
How to ensure the safety of students and drivers on buses during the pandemic has remained a sticking point for the members of the Board of Education least ready to return students to school. Board member Darnell Goldson, in particular, has advocated for bus monitors on every bus to keep students from taking off their masks during the ride.
On Monday, the board learned that the state is taking back around $2.6 million in Covid-19 relief to New Haven Public Schools for not holding in-person classes. Superintendent Iline Tracey said that this makes the district unable to afford bus monitors but assured the board that she was still trying to advocate for more funding behind the scenes.
The details of which chemicals would be used to clean First Student buses has been a controversy as well. The company originally pitched the district on a disinfectant called Zoono Z71, saying that it could kill coronavirus on surfaces for up to 30 days. After reporting out of Cincinnati revealed that the EPA has not approved this claim, New Haven Public Schools switched its bus cleaning plans.
Buses will be disinfected twice a day with Signet Neutral Disinfectant, which the EPA has approved to combat the SARS-CoV‑2 virus.
“Zoono Z71 is pending approval … It will not be used unless it is approved and listed on EPA List N. If it is approved we may switch as the expected cost would be significantly lower,” said the district’s Chief Operating Officer Michael Pinto.