INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS: BRIEFS
Congress
Approves Reversal of Sequester Cuts
ATLANTIC EXPRESS SHUTS ITS DOORS AFTER FAILED UNION NEGOTIATIONS
2013 after a New York City union rejected a labor contract that its lender required to continue financing. About 2,000 NYC employees of Atlantic
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Express were out of a job after the holidays as school districts from Philadelphia to Los Angeles scrambled to implement contingen- cy plans for transporting students who would have been riding Atlantic Express buses. Te vote by members of the Amalgamated
Transit Union 1181-1061, AFL CIO on Dec. 4 rejected the reduced wages offered by Atlantic Express, which spokeswoman Carolyn Daly said were necessary to keep the company solvent. “We gave the union our best offer, which
month after filing for Chapter 11 bank- ruptcy protection, 40-year-old school bus contractor Atlantic Express announced it would cease operations at the end of
was significantly better than what the new companies in the industry are providing,” she said. Daly added that Atlantic Express could
not produce the cost savings required by Wells Fargo, which forced the company to sell all assets and routes in New York and across the country. Te contractor operated school routes as well as a coach division mostly in New York, Massachusetts, Califor- nia and Pennsylvania. Earlier this year, Mayor Michael
Bloomberg required New York City school bus contracts to be rebid for the first time in 34 years to rein in runaway costs. Te rebid- ding included contractors that do not utilize contracted labor, which meant that com- panies required under contract to use labor such as Atlantic Express had to renegotiate wages to remain competitive.
A Year After Sandy Hook, Newtown School District Installs Cameras on Buses
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ust before the one-year anniversary last month of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, the Newtown (Conn.) Public School District outfitted all of its school buses with video cameras to help ensure student safety the entire school day. w On Nov. 25 the state’s attorney’s office released a report on Adam Lanza, who turned
the gun on himself after killing 20 schoolchildren and six staff members. Tough investigators could not establish a clear motive of the 20-year-old shooter, they discovered he was fascinat- ed by the 1999 Columbine high school shooting and other mass murders. In the past year, the Newtown community has worked hard toward restoring a sense of
safety throughout their school district. Tese onboard video systems from PRO-VISION offer continuous recording with full-color night vision cameras to make sure nothing escapes notice. Tey provide a video record of people entering the door and of the driver and passen- gers from the front row to the back, which enables drivers to better manage student behavior and ensure bus security.
H
ead Start and special needs trans- porters alike may somewhat breathe a sigh of relief, as the Senate and House approved a budget deal that will con- tinue funding the federal government for the next two years. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen.
Patty Murray (D-WA) negotiated the agreement to set federal discretionary spending at $1 trillion through the next two fiscal years in order to avoid anoth- er government shutdown. Te deal also replaces the next round of sequester cuts that were due to take effect this month. Te House passed the bipartisan plan by a vote of 332-94 on Dec. 12 with the Senate approving it a week later. At press time, the legislation was on
President Obama's desk awaiting signature. Te funding level for special education is set at a lower level than in 2010, but advocates were still “encouraged” by the deal, according to Disability Scoop. Te sequester cut more than $2 billion from the U.S. Department of Education, and about $600 million from special educa- tion programs, including transportation compliance with IDEA and Section 504. It also enacted a 5-percent reduction in fiscal year 2013 funds for Head Start, which STN contributor Linda Bluth said was “absolutely decimated.” She noted that some agencies had to eliminate school busing or solicit private donations to buy a new school bus. Even with the reverse of the sequester,
she added that only time will tell the total sum of negative effects from the cuts.
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