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Board approves five-year Boone Transportation contract with onboard cameras and vape detection
Summary
The Gadsden ISD board approved a five-year contract with Boone Transportation Inc. for pupil transport services. The agreement includes new security and parent-engagement features; district staff said the transportation allocation remains insufficient and will be supplemented from operational funds.
The Gadsden Independent School District board voted May 20 to approve a five-year transportation contract with Boone Transportation Incorporated to provide to-and-from student bus services through the 2029–30 school year.
District staff presented contract figures for the first year and described several vendor-provided enhancements at no additional cost to the district, including live-streaming cameras and vape-detection hardware on buses, a parent app for real-time bus tracking, two paid student internship placements per year, a $25,000 student scholarship program each contract year and five complimentary buses for state-level travel.
The cover-sheet figures presented for 2025–26 showed a total Boone contract amount of $7,059,967 for the first year. Staff also told the board that the state transportation allocation is insufficient; the district anticipates using operational funds to cover an estimated shortfall (district staff indicated previously the gap would be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars).
Board members approved the contract; administration said it will finalize a memorandum of understanding with the vendor that defines the enhanced services and implementation timelines.
