“Really between a rock and a hard place.” Superintendent addresses bus strike during school board meeting

The school bus driver strike is well into its third week, and Matanuska Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani addressed the strike during the February 15 regularly scheduled MSBSD school board meeting, hoping to clear up some misinformation, followed up by a discussion of some ideas that have been presented to alleviate the transportation issues.

“We’ve found lots and lots of misinformation in the community and we’re trying to address some of it,” he said before responding to some of the most important questions he and the MSBSD offices have received since the strike began.

A comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions was sent out to MSBSD families prior to the meeting. In the email, the district wanted to provide answers to many of the questions they have been getting via email and through phone calls.

“We know the Teamsters strike has been difficult for our families and our community and we want to thank everyone for their efforts to keep students safe and school open. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and others have all stepped up to get students to school in the absence of transportation. Staff are working extra-long hours before and after school to help families with the burden caused by the strike,” wrote Dr. Trani, who went on to thank families and staff for their continued commitment to students.

“Our community is resilient and has demonstrated a commitment to keeping children in school but the negotiations between the Teamsters and Durham School Services needs to be solved quickly. We implore the Teamsters and Durham School Services to come back to the table and find resolution. The strike is not good for kids, families nor our community.”

During his Superintendent update, Dr. Trani took time to address some of the frequently asked questions, first among them was the question about whether property taxes are used to pay for student transportation.

“Transportation in the state of Alaska is funded through the Transportation Fund, which has not been increased in more than 8 years, and because of that, districts like our own have been forced to used money from the general fund to support or hold up transportation,” he said, adding that this year, MSBSD was scheduled to spend nearly $3.5 million.

“The question is complicated. ‘It shouldn’t be’, is the first answer. It (transportation) should be supported by the transportation fund (from the state), but the transportation fund hasn’t been updated.”

Dr. Trani told the board that because the transportation funding has not seen an increase in nearly a decade, the money is instead being taken out of the classrooms to make up for the deficits in transportation. During the strike, and on days when Durham didn’t provide services, the school district does not pay out to the company.

Another common question the district has received is regarding the requirement to provide transportation for students, to which the superintendent replied:

“The districts are not required to provide transportation for students to school. Most do because we want to get as many kids in school as possible.”

He went on to explain that Alaska is unique in that there are many roads that are not accessible for vehicles such as school buses, thus unable to provide transportation, not even for special education students.

Transportation for special education was another point that Dr. Trani clarified, saying, “just because you’re in special education doesn’t mean you get transportation. It has to be in your IEP (Individualized Education Plan).”

When the idea for utilizing buses for special education only, he said that right now, an estimated 650 students receive transportation on their IEPs.

Dr. Trani then moved into presenting some brainstorming ideas families and staff have presented to him since the strike began, and he broke it down into 2 categories-no transportation and reconfigured services. He did not say whether the ideas were going to be pursued, but rather more to show that they are listening to people’s suggestions in regards to transportation alternatives.

First up were options if there was no transportation at all, and some of the possibilities under that included using private industry to provide transportation, having the Mat-Su Borough provide transportation, or adding before and/or after school care at schools, with a specific focus on elementary schools.

“The Borough actually has been doing some planning around this to provide a transportation system for the entire Valley,” he said, and as far as provide morning and afternoon care at schools, Dr. Trani said, “One of the hurdles here would be that we would need DEED’s (Department of Education and Early Development) help on changing some of rules on what transportation money could be spent on, and you are basically paying for bus attendants that are actually doing the attending at school, rather than on the bus.”

When he moved into ideas of reconfiguring services, Dr. Trani said that hypothetically, the ideas all require reducing the number of drivers and whichever company was in charge would have to pay those drivers more.

One idea was to bus only elementary students, since generally speaking those students cannot stay home alone.

“When we hear feedback from parents, the most vigorous feedback is about how this is impacting parents of young students.”

Another suggestion was to move from the current 2-tier system of transportation, in which elementary students are transported, then middle and high school students follow suit.

“There’s pluses and minuses. It requires fewer drivers and those drivers would have to drive more hours. From a parent standpoint, if you happen to have a kid in elementary, middle, and high school, your drop-off and pick-up times are strewn out all over the place.”

Other ideas included a move away from the door-to-door system the buses use to pick up and drop off students, and instead going to specific points around the district; fewer and longer bus routes up to 2 hours each way, which could conceivably mean a student would spend 4 hours on a bus each day; adopting a fee system where, within a certain radius, families would have to pay to use transportation; eliminate activity transportation; and having the district outright own the buses and operate the system, thereby eliminating the need for contracted services, something MSBSD did once.

“The real answer is that it becomes more costly,” Dr. Trani said.

What about using transportation for outlying schools only? To this, Dr. Trani said, “We see the biggest impact at our schools that are not in the core. That’s where parents just have to travel further, and when we look at kids that have not been attending school at all (since the strike), more of them are in the outlying areas.”

“This district, and all districts in the state are really between a rock and a hard place,” he said when faced with lack of funding for adequate transportation from the state. “Districts are stuck with these ‘rock and hard place choices’ where you have to decide, ‘who are you going to take from?”

He did state that the MSBSD lawyer is looking into the contract with Durham, and Deputy Superintendent Katie Gardner clarified that the lawyer has only done an initial review, and that they have asked for additional information.

“We have tentatively talked with our attorney about looking more closely at what the contract terms require and allow for, and can provide information if needed. But it’s a more complicated issue than the district unilaterally making a decision as to whether we believe the contract would have been fulfilled or not.” Gardner went on to say that the attorney can be made available for further discussion with the board at a future meeting.

MSBSD school board member Jacob Butcher, quoting Alaska statute 14.09.030, pointed out that there is a responsibility on the district providing bus service to “establish equipment requirements for each type of school bus that is used to transport school children to or from a public school; and at least twice each calendar year, inspect each school bus for compliance with requirements adopted under this subsection,” before asking what is being done to adhere to the statute in light of the unsafe equipment allegations from the striking drivers.

Again, Gardner addressed this, saying the Alaska does have inspectors sent to perform the inspections.

“The state inspector did come in August and inspect the school buses at that time. The inspector is also scheduled to return March 6-8, dates that were previously scheduled-that’s not a result of anything that’s going on right now.” She said that the inspector is to review every bus for a series of checks developed by the state, with guidance from the federal government, what safety standards are needed to be examined.

“The state inspector will determine if that bus is safe to operate and can be put into service.” Gardner said that in August, and that there may have been some discrepancies listed, but that does not mean the buses aren’t safe to operate, that items need to be reviewed. Durham says that they have responded to every discrepancy and that all buses but 1 were cleared into service.

The 200+ page School Bus Safety Inspection Manual does say that the inspector must physically and visually inspect heaters, defrosters, fans, horns, and that for special education buses, special service modifications such as power lifts and ramps, must be re-inspected once those modifications have been made. 2-way electronic voice communication systems are also required.

“There is not a requirement that they’re inspected before they’re on the road, as long as they meet certain safety requirements,” said Gardner.

However, the Inspection Manual does state that “every bus in the state must undergo and pass 1 Minimum Standards inspection to determine that the vehicle complies with the minimum construction requirements of the State of Alaska.” Within the minimum standards are operating defrosters, fans, and heaters with the appropriate BTU rating.

The bottom line is that there is no easy solution for the district. If the contract is cancelled, it would still take a long time to come up and agree on a viable solution. If MSBSD were to ask for new bids for a new contract, there is a question would another company bid, and how willing would other companies be to bid to provide bus services, given that Durham was the only one to fulfill bidding requirements last time? There is also the possibility of a law suit if the contract were to be terminated, as well as the appeal to operate here given that the district would look risky to contracted transportation companies if the contract was cancelled this early.

“We really are between a rock and a hard place.”