Officials at wits’ end over bus company

Cumberland School Committee seeks meeting with higher-ups after continuous late complaints

CUMBERLAND — The Cumberland School Committee’s patience with the district’s bus company is wearing thin and may be at the breaking point.

As was the case last year and the year before, school officials say the district continues to receive phone calls and emails from parents concerned about late school buses across the district, which has prompted the

School Committee to call for a meeting with representatives from Durham School

Services’ corporate headquarters.

The committee had been dealing with bus officials from Durham’s northeast operations, including managers Armando Ferreira and Francisco Monteiro, but School Committee Chairman Paul DiModica says he wants to meet with higher-ups in the company.

“We’ve been hearing the same thing over and over for eight years. It’s just not working out,” DiModica told Monteiro at a School Committee meeting last week. “We want to see someone from your corporate headquarters instead of you guys because the buck stops somewhere else. You guys just aren’t getting it done. I really mean it. We need to meet with someone from your corporate office to have a frank discussion.”

“You guys just aren’t getting it done. I really mean it. We need to meet with someone from your corporate OFfiCE TO HAVE A FRANK discussion.” —School Committee Chair Paul DiModica, addressing Durham School Services reps Armando Ferreira and Francisco Monteiro

This is the second year in a row that the district has had problems with Durham, a bus company the district contracted with eight years ago. Last year, the district was bombarded almost daily by phone calls and emails from parents concerned about overcrowded and late school buses across the district.

The problems this year came to a head last Thursday when a bus that was supposed to pick up preschool students visiting Adams Farm at a specific time at the end of the day arrived late.

The School Committee now appears poised to make a decision whether to opt out of its contract with Durham and is reportedly already looking at other transportation options.

Monteiro acknowledged last week that there have been bus problems since the start of school, saying the buses have been late because of a shortage of drivers and the state’s ongoing intersection safety improvement project on Diamond Hill Road (Route 114).

But the School Committee members say they aren’t buying it anymore.

“This is the second year in a row that Durham has blamed its lackluster service on a driver shortage, but that’s not our problem,” School Committeeman Stephen Hess told Ferreira and Monteiro. “We hire you to provide the bus service to get the students there on time and to get them there safely. What happens when you don’t get students there on time is that you shortchange their education and we can never get that back.”

“It’s completely unacceptable that year after year Durham has excuses, but no solutions,” Hess continued. “I can’t fathom how we can continue a relationship with a company that consistently fails to provide the services it was contracted to provide.”

It was the same time last year, that the School District received dozens of complaints about late school buses, which were picking up students late at bus stops and dropping them off at school long after the school day starts. The same problems were reported in the afternoon where in some cases students were not being picked up for at least a half-hour after school closes for the day. In addition to being consistently late, some buses were carrying upwards of 68 students, which is near full capacity.

According to school officials, buses were consistently late last year in the morning, especially Bus #19 to the Ashton Elementary School where students weren’t arriving until after classes start.

In addition to Bus #19, there were issues with Bus #42 at the B.F. Norton Elementary School, especially in the afternoon where buses were more than 30 minutes late picking up students after school closes. Bus #34 at the Community School was also consistently late getting kids to school as was Bus #41, which was late picking up students in the afternoon at the John J. McLaughlin Cumberland Hill Elementary School.

The problems prompted School Superintendent Robert Mitchell to address the matter at the School Committee that month, where at least one member of the panel, who cited similar problems last year, suggested the district consider hiring a different bus company. The School Department has a transportation contract with Durham School Services, which has a three-year contract with the district.

Durham’s school bus transportation performance improved for several weeks, but the same problems are cropping up again this year.

“I understand that there are issues that the bus company is dealing with and I would agree that a driver shortage is an issue, but I would also argue that organizationally there are issues as well,” Mitchell told the committee last week.

The committee is expected to address the next year’s bus routes and the district’s transportation contract at its next meeting Oct. 10.