Neptune parents cite safety failings at transportation vendor; board approves transportation contract

At a public meeting of the Neptune Township Board of Education, a parent urged the district to terminate its contract with the current transportation contractor, citing repeated safety and operational failures.

"My name is Sarah Bing, and I live at 1 Pinebrook Drive in Neptune. I'm here tonight to express my strong objection to the district's decision to continue using the current transportation vendor, Siem and Tov, despite repeated safety failures and operational negligence," said Sarah Bing during the public forum. She described multiple incidents she said involved chronic lateness, poor communication, an incident in which her then-3-year-old child's bus was missing for two hours, and an insurance lapse that led to a Department of Transportation shutdown.

Bing said footage she reviewed showed what she described as the company manager intercepting a bus, failing to notify police, and switching drivers two blocks before the vehicle was located; she also said families had been left in freezing weather during a code-blue emergency and that the high school marching band missed a competition because transportation did not arrive.

The board and district leaders responded that the district is constrained by public procurement rules and that the vendor was the lowest responsive bidder. "We are required to take the lowest bid," said a board representative, noting that when the vendor's insurance lapse was discovered it was corrected and the vendor is now in compliance, according to the district.

Superintendent Dr. Crater said some recent failures were the district's responsibility. "Saturday's misadventure was our fault. It was our oversight. Staff members have been addressed," she said, adding that she had directed staff to put in place a redundancy protocol so the problem would not recur. The district also posted a timeline of events on the district website, officials said.

Despite the complaints, the board voted to approve the transportation item listed as document B3 item 1. Ms. Hoffman moved the item, Ms. Puryear seconded, and the motion passed on a roll-call vote with all present members voting aye.

The vote record, as read into the minutes, listed the following board members voting "Aye": Ms. Hoffman; Mr. Hubbard; Ms. Jones; Ms. Puryear; Ms. Thompson; Mr. West; Ms. Jackson; and the board president. The board did not amend the transportation contract during the meeting.

The public's comments called attention to safety and oversight questions the board said it would continue to address. The district characterized the supplier issues as both contract-level (public-bid constraints) and operational, and said it had posted corrective steps online and instituted internal redundancies.

The board's approval of the transportation item was part of a broader consent agenda taken at the meeting.