districts hand over the keys, rub their hands and say, ‘It’s your problem now.’ Tose types of relationship tend not to work well,” he said. O’Sullivan noted the districts often keep
their own transportation director in place even after contracting bus services and the contrac- tor’s goal is to hire as many existing bus drivers, dispatchers and mechanics as practical to make the transition as smooth as possible. Many districts will transition from a fully
operated district fleet to a private contractor over several years or more. “It’s not uncommon for a district to elect to outsource, but in an effort to appease the labor force, they transition so that as attrition occurs, the buses get handed off to the vendor. Tat may even be 10 years and it’s a way to make the transition fairly seamless,” Allen said. Still others will maintain a split fleet.
Allen pointed out that Pennsylvania law requires districts to transport parochial students if the school is within 10 miles of the district. One school district he advises maintains its own fleet in-district and con- tracts transportation outside the district.
NOT ALWAYS ABOUT MONEY O’Sullivan and Allen also agreed that
district officials are often motivated by more than financial pressures when considering hiring out fleet services. “It’s the theory that if you’re thinking about outsourcing, there’s something wrong internally,” Allen continued. “I seriously doubt bus companies are getting calls from districts that are running great operations.” As a management consultant, Allen
works with districts that “want or need to do a better job internally with routing sys- tems, controlling payroll and other aspects of their operations.” He added that districts should routinely
review their transportation program “to make sure it is the very best it can be.” O’Sullivan stressed that business man-
agers instructed by the school to consider a switch should make sure they “have a look at everything that touches transportation” so they can make a well-informed decision. Te bottom line? Do your homework. “Tere are well-run operations and there
are less than well-run operations, and it has nothing to do with being a public provider or a private provider,” noted Michael Shields, director of transportation at Salem-Keizer (Ore.) Public Schools. “It has everything to do with how you run your business, what type of leadership you provide, how you get things done, how you communicate and how you are telling your story.”l
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