Framingham Demands $530K From School Bus Provider Durham

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Framingham Public Schools will try to recoup about $530,000 from bus provider Durham School Services for transportation gaps during the last few school years, according to a letter sent by a school district attorney last week.

The district and Illinois-based Durham have been at odds since 2019, when the district began tracking serious transportation slowdowns related to a bus driver shortage. When schools went remote during the pandemic, Framingham continued to pay Durham 50 percent of the daily rate.

Under a contract amendment made last October, Durham agreed to provide 77 buses for students when schools reopened in the 2020-21 school year. However, the company was only able to provide about 54 buses per school day on average when students returned in late 2021, according to the school district.

A Sept. 3 letter sent to Durham demanded $380,000, which is about 30 percent of what Framingham spent on buses while students were in remote mode. The district wants another $150,000 for an estimated 440,000 minutes of lost instructional time due to bus shortages in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

When schools reopened widely last March, Framingham provided coronavirus testing and vaccines to drivers, plus supplies like masks and sanitizer, in an attempt to help attract drivers. But Durham wasn't able to hire enough to drive 77 buses, according to the district.

"During the ongoing pandemic, Durham was intentionally paid, and agreed to accept restart costs for specific items such as recruiting, background checks, and driver retention when in person school returned,” School Committee Chair Adam Freudberg said in a recent news release. "With kids returning, we asked for immediate compliance. It did not happen. When families were scrambling to find alternate transportation plans, we asked Durham for immediate individual case management. They didn’t act. When they said staff levels would rise once vaccines were secured, we got them vaccines. No such increase occurred as promised."

Early in 2021, the Framingham School Committee approved a five-year, $30.5 million contract with North Reading-based NRT Bus. That company is also struggling with a wider bus shortage, with NRT officials saying the company lost about 10 percent of its drivers during the pandemic.

The letter says Durham has about 30 days to settle the matter with Framingham before a potential lawsuit. The company had not responded as of Wednesday, Freudberg said.