Tom Breen Photo
COO Michael Pinto: First Student’s plan not cleared yet.
Despite New Haven school administrators’ hopes that buses would be rolling again by Wednesday, the Covid-related shutdown of the bus contractor First Student continues.
As of Friday, 27 First Student employees have tested positive for Covid-19 after a birthday party that many employees attended. The company is testing all of its local employees for the virus and submitting a corrective action plan to the New Haven Health Department. That plan is not quite up to snuff yet.
“We have not” cleared First Student to resume work, said New Haven Public Schools Chief Operating Officer Michael Pinto. “We are waiting on additional information from them” regarding their corrective action plan.
Pinto said that he expects to get those documents Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. They include First Student’s protocols for screening employees for Covid-19 symptoms, for allowing previously Covid-positive employees back to work and a spreadsheet on Covid-19 test results for their employees.
On Monday evening, Pinto explained that the district and health department had delayed restarting First Student operations from this past Monday to Wednesday. On Tuesday, Pinto said that that date has been again pushed back.
The bus company would not be transporting many students, since the Achievement First charter schools and other non-public schools have switched from in-person to remote classes through the Thanksgiving holiday, Pinto said.
New Haven Public Schools has been holding in-person learning for a few students with severe cognitive disabilities per school building. However, that program will end on Friday, Nov. 20, according to Superintendent Iline Tracey.
The program would be most important for a nascent plan to bring food out to families, rather than asking families to pick up meals at their closest school.
New Haven Board of Education members lambasted First Student last week for delaying reporting the outbreak to the health department. Board member Tamiko Jackson-McArthur floated the idea of moving away from the bus contractor altogether.
On Monday, city attorney Elia Alexiades made it clear he had heard that message.
“We are clear in our negotiations that this is their two strikes. If they cannot comply with the Department of Health requirements, we will seek to enforce the liquidated damages clause. We will blame them,” Alexiades said.
Up to this point, state-level orders had prevented the school district from halting payments to First Student when buses were idle. The district agreed to pay the contractor 85 percent of the usual rate when buses are idle and bus drivers are still on the payroll.
During this shutdown, however, the district plans to pay First Student 50 percent of the normal rate for the 110 buses that would have transported Special Education and private school students. Despite the lower rate, the district has been clear that bus drivers must remain on the payroll. This tentative agreement would save the district $196,233, and counting as the shutdown continues. The Board of Education still needs to approve the agreement, however.
The 85 percent rate will continue for the buses that would have been idle for remote classes anyway.
First Student has 207 of their local employees for Covid-19. 163 employees tested negative, 2 tested positive and 42 results are still to be determined. These numbers are enough for First Student to resume busing when the health department green-lights their plan. Pinto relayed that the changes to First Student’s campus have been minor, with a few changes to the bathroom layout to promote distancing and a new protocol for sanitizing keys.
This article has been updated to clarify that the Board of Education has not yet approved the shutdown-related fee savings agreement with First Student, and that those savings only cover the 110 buses that would have been running during the shutdown.