School Committee Meets Tonight; Bus Company Threat Is the Topic

By CHRIS BURRELL

Faced with a school bus company that wants to back out of its
contract to transport Island schoolchildren, school leaders are expected
tonight to issue a stern warning to Island Transport Inc. if they
don't roll the buses come September.

"It's a breach of contract as far as we're
concerned," Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash told
the Gazette yesterday.

The All-Island school committee meets today at 6 p.m. in the library
conference room at the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School.

Mr. Cash said most of the meeting will be held in closed session
since the discussion will focus on legal and contractual issues.

"We're looking to make an administrative recommendation
to the school committee," he added.

Last week, Island Transport president James (Jack) Dario sent a
letter to school committee members, charging that the present school
administration had "destroyed" the 20-year relationship his
company has forged with the Vineyard public schools.

Citing safety concerns and harassment of bus company management, Mr.
Dario argued that the school had breached the terms of the current
three-year contract.

Island Transport vice president Scott Dario also said his company is
looking to retool its deal with the schools, proposing that Island
Transport hand off overhead costs and simply manage the transportation
job for an annual fee of about $75,000.

His proposal also called for Island Transport to have the autonomy
to determine snow days and to discipline drivers.

It's unclear whether school committee members will even
entertain such modifications to the contract.

Last week, Scott Dario would not comment on whether the proposed
$75,000 fee for his company would represent an increase in the profit
realized under the current contract.

The buses transport more than 1,500 Island schoolchildren to and
from school on a daily basis.

A year ago, Island Transport threatened to end bus service on a
school day in June unless school leaders agreed to pay a disputed charge
of more than $100,000 for transporting special needs children.

Under pressure, school officials paid Island Transport the money and
then negotiated new terms for the contract, agreeing to cover half of
the maintenance and repair costs of the 22 buses in the fleet.

The schools also struck a deal to pick up the cost of paying drivers
who transport special needs students.

In the aftermath of this latest disagreement with Island Transport,
school leaders are adamant that bus service will not be interrupted,
even if it means taking over the entire operation themselves.

The bus administrator for Vineyard schools, James Maseda, is
drafting a plan for running all facets of student transportation and is
expected to tell school committee members tonight what it will take to
have the buses ready for service within four weeks.

Scott Dario said his company would help the schools with the
transition and encourage its drivers to continue working behind the
wheel of a school bus.

The Vineyard schools own the 22 buses in the fleet and lease them to
Island Transport, which then agrees to maintain the buses, garage them
and hire the drivers.

Amy Tierney, assistant to the superintendent for business affairs,
said the schools paid about $1.5 million for the new buses back in 1999.
The lease payments from Island Transport - $365,000 a year -
cover the schools' loan payments for the bus purchase.

The Vineyard schools - all but the Edgartown School, which
operates its own bus system - then pay Island Transport a little more
than $1 million a year for the busing service.