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Board debates buying buses after contractor disruptions, authorizes staff review
Summary
Rutherford County School Board members debated whether the district should buy buses after contractors returned routes and driver shortages left 12 open routes; the board stopped short of approving purchases and instead authorized the director and transportation staff to research options including leasing, spare buses, job descriptions and funding, and to report back after the upcoming all-call and a planned retreat.
Rutherford County School Board members spent the meeting’s longest block debating how to respond after multiple contractor-driven changes left a number of bus routes unfilled and special-education (SPED) transportation temporarily disrupted.
Dr. Sullivan, the district’s schools director, told the board the transportation office was seeing roughly a dozen open routes and that staff would run an "all call" to give existing contractors the first opportunity to pick them up. Transportation staff reported 12 routes were open and that contractors would have until 4:30 p.m. the following day to indicate interest, with a random drawing scheduled Monday to assign remaining routes.
Board member Butch moved to authorize the director to pursue purchasing three SPED buses immediately and to investigate buying up to five additional large buses as needed to keep routes covered. "We don't have any choice but to serve transportation, especially to the special ed kids," Butch said, arguing the district…
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