The WW-P School District is facing another transportation dilemma. Just before the start of the school year, it had to deal with how to get students to school on time. Now it’s grappling with who is going to get them there.
The district had planned to outsource several bus routes that had been handled by WW-P drivers in the past. The drivers, represented by the Windsor-Plainsboro Service Association, raised complaints at a recent school board meeting about their diminishing hours. The district responded to pressure by keeping more bus routes in-house rather than outsourcing the work.
Larry Shanok, assistant superintendent for finance, said the school district agreed to keep all but one of the routes in-house. The one that will be outsourced requires a bus with handicap-accessible equipment. Shanok added that the school’s drivers are well compensated, being paid more than any other drivers in the area, in addition to receiving medical benefits.
“We’re paying more, and we’re giving more benefits, so it stands to reason that it costs more for the district to run the routes than to outsource,” said Shanok.
Hutner says the district agreed to avoid going out to bid, and kept the routes the responsibility of its own drivers, “after listening to the drivers’ concerns and making a careful judgment, and deciding what was best for the safe transportation of our students.”
Shanok says the district’s track record proves that it treats its drivers well. “They think we’re eliminating the drivers and forcing them to go elsewhere but the facts don’t seem to back that up. Only one person has left, and she came back,” he said.
The union said the district’s decision to retire five school buses from its fleet without replacing them was hurting the drivers’ income and opportunities for benefits. The state requires that buses be retired after 12 years.
Hutner says the number of buses in the fleet does not affect the number of hours or routes given to the district’s drivers. WW-P purchased two new 24-passenger buses this year for the transportation of its own students, and has not yet determined whether it will purchase other buses next year.
