The fight over new school bus contracts has escalated in New York City, with a coalition of companies threatening they will have to halt service and lay off workers as soon as Nov. 1 amid negotiations with the city.
Local public school parents have complained for decades about poor school bus service. At the root of the problem are outdated contracts with school bus companies that haven’t been updated in decades amid a labor dispute, many education observers say.
The city has in recent months been extending contracts with school bus companies on a month-to-month emergency basis as negotiations over a new agreement continue. But in a new letter, an attorney for the bus companies serving 150,000 students said the arrangement is unsustainable and may prompt them to shut down service.
The attorney, John “Sean” Crowley, called the emergency extensions “unfeasible and impractical” in an affidavit to the New York state Labor Department on Friday. He wrote the city’s last-minute approach to the contracts raised the possibility the bus companies may have to terminate drivers on Oct. 31.
Members of the Panel for Educational Policy, which approves city education contracts, said they want any new agreements to include crucial improvements to bus service, and planned to continue month-to-month extensions as negotiations unfold.
Panel chair Gregory Faulkner said it wasn’t clear whether the threat to service was some sort of “misunderstanding” with the bus companies, or a strategic move to pressure the city into a deal.
“This is normal,” Faulkner said, adding that the contracts would only lapse if the companies refuse to sign them. “It’s in their court.”
Any disruption to service could create chaos for students and their parents. Dozens of companies contract with the city to serve students, including some of the most vulnerable. Many younger children, students with disabilities and homeless students depend on buses to take them to programs across the five boroughs.
Still, many parents and education advocates have urged city officials to use leverage in the contract negotiations to force improvements to a dysfunctional system.
Parents have complained for years their children face long, inefficient routes, inconsistent service and delays that cause them to miss hours of school and special education services. Many have warned officials against entering into a five-year contract that doesn’t require significant improvements.
Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said officials are preparing for a potential disruption to school bus service, should it happen.
“Emergency extension contracts have already been sent to bus companies to ensure service continues beyond Oct. 31, as has been long planned,” she said in a statement. “Though we have not received any formal notice of mass layoffs by busing companies, we are working diligently and proactively to ensure alternative transportation services are in place, should they be needed. We are also making information available to our families and school communities regarding options in case of bus companies ceasing to run routes.”
Crowley, the companies’ attorney, said in an affidavit they had already agreed to a series of improvements involving GPS use, customer service and the purchase of electric vehicles.
Carolyn Rinaldi, vice president of the city’s largest school bus drivers union, said in a statement that city officials need to “step up and resolve these pressing issues; put politics aside, the finger-pointing and let’s get serious” about a deal. The bus companies are seeking a five-year contract.
Aviles-Ramos said the idea that companies are considering mass layoffs amid ongoing extensions before a mayoral election represented “an act of bad faith.”
“We urge all parties to reject tactics that circumvent transparent, democratic processes and to keep the focus where it belongs, on the needs of our students and families,” she said.
Jessica Gould
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