The Macomb school board could decide next week whether to bring its school bus services back in-house.
The district started contracting out its transportation services more than 30 years ago. It’s currently run by Durham School Services, a school bus operator based in Lisle, Ill. Durham operates in 32 states.
School board member Kristin Terry has been the driving force behind the proposed change.
She thinks Durham is not meeting expectations. She said, for example, school bus routes ran late at the beginning of the school year.
“Even as a parent, and it was one of our buses, I have to take off work to go get my child because I don’t want her to sit there for two more hours because they’re short and somebody’s doing a double route. So, I do feel like this could really help the situation of no more delayed routes,” she said.
Terry believes a change would save the district money, give it more say in how the system works, and help it avoid driver shortages.
Terry said the district would need to hire an operational manager to oversee its own transportation system, plus a maintenance supervisor, a dispatcher, and a person in charge of payroll for the extra personnel.
She acknowledged the district is running out of time to have something in place for next school year.
“But I do think there’s still a little bit of time to at least hire that operational manager to get started for the next school year to make that transition from Durham to our own,” Terry said.
She thinks bringing the service back in-house is the best thing the district can do, especially now that it has started buying its own buses.
Other school districts operate their own bus systems
John Meixner, Regional Superintendent of Schools for Fulton, Hancock, McDonough, and Schuyler counties (ROE 26), said no other district in his service region outsources their transportation program.
He also said there is at least one challenge they all face.
“Every district in ROE 26 and beyond is grappling with the bus driver shortage. It's becoming very serious,” Meixner said in response to an email query from TSPR.
Macomb School Superintendent Patrick Twomey said he will provide the board with information about the proposed change, but he will not offer a recommendation.
“I think this is a really big step for a community to take, and I believe it’s a board decision,” Twomey said.
His research included a recent visit to the Canton school district, which operates its own bus service and is similar in size to Macomb.
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