Letter to the Editor: District Staff Weigh in on Transportation Debate

To the Members of the :

As educators, we know that the education of our students is not limited to their time in our classrooms. A child's education begins each day when he or she steps onto the school bus and the responsibility of the schools does not end until every last child is safely returned to their doorstep.

The bus ride is a time in our children's day that is fraught with potential challenges. It is incumbent upon the school system to ensure that the best and most dedicated adults are responsible for our children during the bus ride. Our current bus drivers know our community and our families and they regularly invest the extra time necessary to make sure their charges are safe. They are focused on protecting our students rather than a profit margin.

As educators, parents, and community members, we believe privatization is not in the best interest of the town or our children.

• Privatization is a significant risk. A private company may be fine, and we recognize that many districts contract their bus service. However, there are numerous examples of significant problems in other First Student districts. We currently have a system that we know works and provides our students with a high level of care. We don't believe the risks of privatizing are worth the short-term savings.

• Privatization limits options for the schools and other town departments. The schools could lose the flexibility we currently have around field trips and busing during the school day and the Concord Recreation Department will be affected as well. In many districts with private bus services, the costs of field trips and athletics are much higher than they are in Concord impacting the availability of curricular and co-curricular enrichment opportunities.

• Privatization means a loss of local control. By privatizing, the school system would abdicate its authority over the bus system and would lose the level of control over hiring decisions, CORIs, and supervision that it currently has.

• Privatization is unnecessary. The solutions suggested by First Student of housing buses at the various schools and providing a roving mechanic could be implemented by the school district. Further, there are sites within town that have been suggested to the school district for housing the buses. There are indeed options for maintaining local control that should be thoroughly examined.

• Privatization is short-sighted. Privatization may solve the short-term problem of the bus barn and the high school construction project, but in the long run the loss of local control, the impact on other town departments, and the long-term costs of services make it clear that privatization would be penny wise and pound foolish.

• Privatization does not leave room for personalization. Our bus drivers care about our children and go out of their way to ensure their safety. It is not uncommon to find a driver who waits to make sure a child gets into the house or circles the block one more time to give the parent a few minutes to get home. Our drivers have been loyal to us; we need to be loyal to them.

Finally, the process has been flawed. The School Committee asked for options. The did not examine options. The School Committee was presented with one choice: privatization.

The lack of a real attempt to solve the problem of the bus barn and keep our buses in house is disrespectful to the dedicated drivers who are invested in our community and have given decades of loyal service to the children of Concord.

We urge the School Committee to recognize the importance of local control, respect the work and dedication of long term employees, be creative in their problem solving and reject the plan for privatization.

Sincerely,

Johanna Glazer
Concord-Carlisle Teachers' Association

Don Matson
Concord-Carlisle Tutors’ Association

Sharon Trainor
CPS/CCHS Support Staff Association

Merrie Najimy
Concord Teachers' Association

Carl Sweeney
CPS Building Service Workers

Steve Wall
CCHS Building Service Workers