District staff told the committee that student transportation is a continuing challenge and that the district is operating fewer buses than the “right number” to cover routes reliably.

The committee heard that the district currently runs 19 buses but that the appropriate fleet size to cover daily routes is 21 buses; the district said it retained funding for the two additional buses in the budget to avoid chronic rerouting and late drops. Officials also discussed the district’s competitive procurement for transportation services: NRT is the contractor (noted in the meeting as owned by Beacon Mobility) and the district observed that price differences exist between Triton’s contract and neighboring districts’ contracts (for example, Pentucket’s contract rates were discussed as lower). Staff said factors behind rate differences include mileage driven, age of vehicles and specific contract provisions.

Officials said the committee had previously added liquidated‑damage provisions to the transportation contract after earlier performance concerns and that the presence of competing bidders in other procurements had affected pricing. The district asked the transportation vendor to prioritize backup drivers and vehicle availability to reduce daily call‑outs, reroutes and repeated trips.

The discussion included a practical scheduling note: committee members asked staff to avoid scheduling graduations on the same night for multiple district schools in future years because overlapping ceremonies created conflicts for families and staff.

Ending: Staff said they will continue to monitor vendor performance, pursue contractual remedies where appropriate, and include two buses in the budget for reliability pending recruitment of drivers or alternate vendor arrangements.