The Manchester school district is continuing to scramble to string together transportation for students after a dispute with a new bus company left several schools without transportation at the start of the academic year.
A permanent fix to the bus shortage still isn’t clear yet. But in recent days district leaders have loosened policies on who can drive students to and from school events; games and athletic practices have been cancelled; and recruitment for new bus drivers has been accelerated.
At a Board of School Committee meeting Monday night, Manchester Superintendent Jennifer Gillis said the administration was also talking to companies who provide specialized transportation for the district to see if they can help fill gaps on bus routes.
“If we have these runs that are servicing the charter schools, how can we use some of your smaller buses, or your larger vans to help us transport students in the interim,” Gillis said.
The trouble began over the weekend, when the Manchester School District announced it would suspend bus services for students attending charter schools after a new transportation provider, Student Transportation of America — or STA — said it couldn’t cover all the routes it had been contracted for.
STA said they are “working diligently to train and credential new, safe school bus drivers to offer additional services as quickly as possible.”
Even before the dispute with STA, Manchester’s school buses appear to have been stretched to capacity. A video posted to Facebook last Wednesday — the second day of classes for most students — showed an overcrowded bus with children sitting in the aisles.
The suspension of bus routes to the district’s charter schools has led to longer waits across bus routes, as the existing buses take on more students, as well as issues with transportation to athletics. Peter Argeropoulos is an at-large board member for the Board of School Committee in Manchester, as well as a teacher in Nashua. At Monday's board meeting, Argeropoulos said he heard from disappointed players from a middle school girls’ soccer team in Nashua.
“My school was the team that Southside Middle School was supposed to play today and as they were walking out of the building they were all very upset at the cancellation of the game,” Argeropolous said.
The contract with STA was a change from the previous configuration for school bus services in Manchester. Historically, Manchester Transit Authority provided all regular school bus services for the district, but this year STA was contracted to cover 50% of the routes, according to the district.
In recent days, however, STA has said they’d only agreed to service 25% of the routes — a claim school board members disputed on Monday.
“None of this was ever constructed with the understanding on the district side or MTA’s side that we were looking at a 50/25/25. It was always under construction that this was a 50/50 split,” Gillis said. “The flag did not raise until I was sitting with them Friday that there was trouble, that they were not able to satisfy the routes we had before them.”
At the board meeting Monday, the school district’s attorneys said they were reviewing the contract.
