Germantown committee backs 2025–30 bus contract with Go Rightway, adds survey deadline for elementary start-time decision

The Germantown School District Ad Hoc Transportation Committee voted Aug. 5 to forward a draft 2025–2030 student transportation contract with Go Rightway to the Board of Education with a positive recommendation, adding an amendment that requires parent and staff survey results to be provided to the board no later than Jan. 31, 2026 to inform any decision about elementary start and end times.

Ms. Altendorf, who led contract negotiations for the district, told the committee two vendors responded to the RFP and staff negotiated with incumbent Go Rightway on a draft contract to cover the 2025–26 through 2029–30 school years. She said Go Rightway proposed annual escalation of "CPI plus 1%" and that preliminary modeling of aligning elementary start times produced an estimated $120,000 increase offset in part by savings from converting some routes; Altendorf described a net estimated increase of approximately $75,000.

The committee accepted Altendorf's recommendation to keep current start and end times for 2025–26 while the district conducts parent and staff outreach. A staff member described a plan to send a quantitative, school-specific parent survey in early fall, analyze responses, present key themes to the transportation committee in December or January and, if necessary, reconvene in February or March so the Board could act in a timely window before the next school year.

Nate Hamilton, chief operating officer for Go Rightway Transportation Group, told the committee the "majority of the increases were inflationary costs" and pointed to vehicle, insurance and labor costs as primary drivers; he said fuel costs have "remained fairly flat" and described vendor purchasing practices that aim to pass volume discounts to customers. The vendor also said it conducts biannual background checks that include a national offender-registry search.

Contractual details discussed and incorporated into the draft include an assumed billing basis of 175 school days (which folded in pre‑school-year route trial days), minimum-payment provisions that the district previously negotiated during the pandemic response (65% payment for days 1–10 and 55% thereafter in extended closures), route guidelines codifying existing practice (for example, kindergarten stops at the home and middle/high routes generally avoiding cul‑de‑sacs absent safety reasons), a requirement for at least two cameras per bus, and a no-charge parent tracking app to show a bus's progress during route operation.

Altendorf said the RFP also included five complimentary motor‑coach rentals over the life of the contract for district uses; the vendor referred to an internal expiration of Dec. 2027 for that credit. On contract payment terms, staff noted the district's policy allows 60 days for payment but the vendor requested 30; the draft currently states 30 days with an understanding both parties will work through invoice discrepancies.

On the motion to forward, the committee member offering the amendment said the parental and staff survey and a firm Jan. 31, 2026 deadline were included "for accountability purposes" so the board could make a decision about elementary start/end times in the second year of the contract if warranted. The amendment passed by voice vote and was incorporated into the committee's positive recommendation. The committee then voted to forward the contract with that amendment to the full Board of Education; the transcript records voice votes (ayes) but does not include a roll‑call tally.

The committee adjourned at 5:05 p.m. The contract and the committee's recommendation will be considered by the Board of Education at a future meeting; Ms. Altendorf said the draft "could go to the full board, like, I believe the nineteenth," and staff will proceed with the survey and data analysis timetable noted to the committee.