Layoffs on horizon as school district prepares bid specs for contractors
By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
ALLENTOWN — The school district’s 18 bus drivers and aides facing the loss of their jobs told the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education that its plan to sell its fleet of buses and outsource transportation routes was a shortsighted, one-year budget fix that could end up jeopardizing students’ safety in the long run.
Other drivers, as well as some parents who spoke in support of them, questioned the fairness of laying off the bus drivers, who were the only school employees during last year’s budget crisis who agreed to freeze their salaries for an entire year and contribute 9.8 percent of their wages for health coverage.
”Is if fair that we are being fired when the rest of the district gets raises?” bus driver Teresa Nixon, of Cream Ridge, asked the school board during the public comment portion of the March 16 meeting. “As a taxpayer, I am livid about that.”
Ms. Nixon was referring to the fact that UFRSD teachers’ salaries are being increased 5.45 percent next year, an amount that includes a contractual 2.95 percent pay hike for 2011-2012, as well as the remainder of previously scheduled raises that the union agreed to defer until the next school budget year. Teachers do not contribute toward the cost of their health care as bus drivers now do.
The hour-long pitch to the school board apparently didn’t change any minds, however, because Business Administrator Diana Schiraldi announced toward the end of the meeting she was in the process of preparing the bid specifications for contractors interested in the various UFRSD transportation routes.
Most of the large crowd was gone by that point and only two drivers were left in the room to hear Ms. Schiraldi say that the bid advertisements would be available for the school board’s review by either its March 23 or April 6 meeting.
Bus driver Patricia DePinto, of Cream Ridge, appeared stunned by the news.
”So is it done? Over? Are we being outsourced?” Ms. DePinto asked the board quietly. “To let us go on like this … we would like to know, is it over?”
Ms. Schiraldi explained that the 2011-2012 budget that the district has sent to the executive county superintendent’s office for review already assumes the $486,830 projected savings from the bus privatization plan.
”We don’t know where else we would get that $486,000 if in fact we didn’t outsource our transportation and sell our buses,” Ms. Schiraldi told her.
”Diana,” interrupted Board of Education member Chris Shaw, of Upper Freehold. “Wouldn’t concessions from the teachers…?”
”That would give us our savings, but we’re in a contract with the teachers and it’s not a decision we can make,” Ms. Schiraldi replied.
”We have made those requests, we have done everything that we can do,” Schools Superintendent Richard Fitzpatrick said.
”They are in a contract and they are a union,” Dr. Fitzpatrick added. “The NJEA could care less what Dick Fitzpatrick asks for and they’re really not interested in what I have to say — and that’s the truth.”
At the start of the meeting, bus driver Mary Perry, of Cream Ridge, had given each board member a purple file folder containing state Motor Vehicle Commission bus inspection data showing significantly higher failure rates for private contractors’ buses vs. district-owned fleets in UFRSD and Millstone.
The private companies based in Trenton and Freehold had MVC failure rates of 88 percent and 50 percent for their initial inspections, compared to 28 percent for UFRSD and 21 percent for Millstone, according to the records. The buses all passed subsequent re-exams after a range of problems found in the initial inspection were rectified, including tires, window locks, seat belts, brakes, headlights, taillights and parking lights. The documents indicate the inspections occurred between October 2010 and January 2011.
”I just want you to compare how many of theirs fail,” Ms. Perry told the board. “And a lot of that is due to their drivers and their mechanics.”
Another driver, Carol Poppe, of New Egypt, said if the district will not change its mind on privatizing, it should phase it in on a trial basis. The board’s plan to sell its buses for a one-time $211,830 cash infusion will leave the district without viable alternatives if privatizing turns out to be a disaster, she said.
In addition to the one-time revenue from the sale of the buses, the district estimates it could realize a net savings of $275,000 in salaries and benefits by outsourcing. The drivers argue that the contractors will come in with a low price for the first year and then, once the district’s buses are sold, raise the contract cost every year until there is no longer any savings compared to using district drivers.
Several parents also spoke during the early part of the meeting to urge the board to reconsider the privatization plan, sharing personal stories of how drivers had gone above and beyond the call of duty to take care of their children, grandchildren and even protect their property. Anastasia Essl, of Cream Ridge, said it was a local school bus driver who noticed the fire burning in the woods near her house that, if not reported, would have burned her home to the ground.
The dependability and sobriety of hired contractors was raised again. Driver Cheryl Correa, of Cream Ridge, said she was upset to read a coach is denying having told her that a contracted bus driver for a sporting event smelled of alcohol. Ms. Correa first recounted this alleged conversation at the March 2 school board meeting, but when district officials were asked to comment at the end of the night they said the athletic director, who was at the meeting, phoned the coach right after Ms. Correa made the allegation was told the incident never occurred.
Ms. Correa, however, stood by her story last week and repeated the allegation during the public comment portion of the March 16 board meeting.
”She did tell me about this incident on the night I took the girls basketball team to Lawrence High School,” Ms. Correa said. “I have no reason to lie about something like that. I only wish the members of your faculty would be honest and come forward and tell the truth.”
The public hearing on the proposed $33 million school budget is set for Wednesday night, March 23. The voters will make their decision on the budget, and elect candidates to fill four open school board seats (two representing Allentown and two representing Upper Freehold) when the election is held Wednesday, April 27.

