School bus driver problem
On the 12th, the School Finance Sub Committee held a meeting at McCarthy at 4PM. The chair recorded (audio only) the meeting as it was not televised. The MWDN did a front page piece on the meeting. It appears to me, the calling out sick seems to be the major issue with bus routes being dropped due to no drivers."Transportation is the biggest headache every single day more than any other thing" said Bob Tremblay.
VP at Durham Buss of New England claims it's our unique relationship where by they own the buses and supply the drivers, the routes are designed by district employee's and are dispatched by our own dispatchers. Durham won the buss contact (29M) to bus around 10k kids in 2016. Framingham, retains the right to approve bus drivers. Students with-in 2 miles of school are required to pay 250.00 buss fee or 500.00 per family.
While every community seems to be having some of the very same issue's, I think it's time we think of ways to ease the driver shortage. Why not offer them an attendance bonus, like we do for fire fighters. If you show up every day, you get 1200.00 as an incentive to come to work every day.
Another idea is to seek out veterans or even senior citizens who are looking for some meaningful employment.
Sick time is rampant here and casing major issues for many departments. And the buss drivers are just another example.
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 2:32 PM
10 Comments
10 Comments:
Clearly we have issues and kids are standing in the cold, or the rain, waiting for buses that arrive late or not at all. This is an education issue people, and we need to treat it as one. If the kids don't get to school because of a failure of the bus system we chose to hire, then the blame is on us. Time to do something besides complain. Is there a clause in the contract about performance that would allow us to get out of this contract for failure to perform?
That's a very good question. I'll ask my sc rep.
this is what Adam wrote to me regarding the question of performance.
"The contract signed in 2016 could have been written a lot better to provide more options (operationally and financial) to FPS. The process has already begun for the next contract, including the requirement to have stronger performance based language".
I will take that to mean there is no option to get out of this contract. Let's hope the next one is better, and thank you for getting all this information for us. I find out lots of things her on this blog!
Heres a guestion for you Jim. Does the town council/city solicitor review all contracts before they are signed? If not, why not, and if so, then how did he approve a contract lacking this type of information? I see lots of things that we end up in court over related to our city solicitor. Makes me wonder why we pay him so much money since so many things end up with us losing in court.
The contract was signed by Ed Gotgart the former CFO at the school and the town counsel Petrini. It also states they can't use sub-contractors, that i didn't know. It's to long to put on the blog but I can send it to anyone who wants to see it. There is a section called performance:
In the case of any default on the part of the CONTRACTOR with respect to any of the terms of this Agreement,the TOWN shall give written notice thereof, and if said default is not made good within such time as the TOWN shall specify in writing, the TOWN shall notify the CONTRACTOR in writing that there has been a breach of
the Agreement, and thereafter the TOWN shall have the right to secure the completion of the work remaining to be done on such terms and in such manner as the TOWN shall determine, and the CONTRACTOR shall pay the TOWN any money that the TOWN shall pay another CONTRACTOR for the completion of the work, in excess of what the TOWN would have paid the CONTRACTOR for the completion of the work, and the CONTRACTOR shall reimburse the TOWN for all expenses incurred by reason of said breach. In case of such
breach, the CONTRACTOR shall be entitled to receive payment only for work satisfactorily completed prior to said breach, less any retainage the TOWN is entitled to. The amount of any balance due the CONTRACTOR shall be determined by the TOWN and certified to the CONTRACTOR.
Sounds like we have a way out. We should take it. Don't know how you get this information but appreciate that you do.
I got an e mail from the school CFO and he did say they would put performance language in the next contract. Doesn't help us this year, but it's a start.
I have to ask why that is not a standard inclusion in every contract for the city? Shouldn't it be?
I think it may be for certain types of work. Construction, repair and building bids have that I'm sure. But it can be a lengthy and costly endeavor.
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