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School district studies contracting out for service
By M.A. Ferguson-Rich
Special to the Beacon Journal
Published on Saturday, Jun 20, 2009
TALLMADAGE: The Tallmadge City Schools' Board of Education may get out of the busing business.
The motive is money: Superintendent Jeff Ferguson estimates the first year savings for the financially strapped district at $200,000.
The school board Wednesday heard a proposal from representatives of Petermann Ltd., a Cincinnati school bus company.
Company officials assured the board that the district's bus drivers would not be replaced and would continue to be paid the same. By law, they also would continue participation in the School Employees Retirement System.
Chuck Hayes, spokesman for the drivers' union, Local 100 NCFO/SEIU, objected to not being told of the possibility of contracting for bus service with Petermann in May, when the union signed a one-year contract providing no pay raises.
Hayes said that Petermann
representatives have met with the bus drivers and other transportation employees to answer their questions. He said the union continues to have concerns about such a major change in the system.
The superintendent said contracting for bus service would mean the district would no longer be required to purchase vehicles. Petermann also would be responsible for maintaining the fleet and obtaining insurance.
Ferguson said the savings would not mean a return of bus service for the high school or an end to clustered pickup spots.
The board has scheduled a meeting for 7 p.m. June 30 in the community room at the high school to discuss the proposal.
TALLMADAGE: The Tallmadge City Schools' Board of Education may get out of the busing business.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Tallmadge, OH
Posted 06:45 AM, 06/20/2009
Excellent News - Tallmadge needs to cut more costs out of the schools. Keep it up Ferguson & Board. You are proving the levy is not needed more and more. You can cut your way out of the budget problems. Yes - this is good news for Tallmadge that has been rumored for weeks now.
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 06:55 AM, 06/20/2009
Instead of looking to reduce the cost of busing. Why don't they just eliminate it?
Desperate times = Desperate measures
I have children in the system if it comes down to busing or an excellent education. I'm sorry I'm taking education. When my wife and I decided to have children we went in understanding the costs of raising them and the sacrifices that come with their raising. Why is it that there is an expectation of busing, sports, and band without paying for them. Please explain.....
Akron, Oh
Posted 07:31 AM, 06/20/2009
Let the kids ride the Metro like other people do, we just voted them a FAT pay increase, make them haul the kids.
Posted 08:33 AM, 06/20/2009
How many principals does Tallmadge have at the high school? 4? You can more than $200,000 per year by cutting it down to 1, and then the kids would have buses! OMG -- bet you road the bus to school when you were a kid, but now that you're just an Old Grump, you want to take everything away. One principal per school! That should solve the problem!
m, m
Posted 09:06 AM, 06/20/2009
four principals at the high school? has the paperwork and federal guidelines increased the workload that much you now need four principals for one school?
stow, oh
Posted 09:16 AM, 06/20/2009
THS has 1 principal and 1 asst. principal responsible for 900 students. There are however 4 secretaries, which is ridiculous considering the high-tech computer system.
Busing could be eliminated down to a 2 mile radius of each school. Sports needs to cut (of course that won't happen because when sports are cut enrollment drops)It's all about priorities.
Posted 09:22 AM, 06/20/2009
How many counselors? There has to be tremendous overhead! I'd start cutting there! High school students do not need to be bused, but elementary and middle school students do. Maybe you need to have enrollment drop! Fewer students to worry about. Guess Tallmadge really screwed up when they built that mental hospital of a high school!
Posted 09:46 AM, 06/20/2009
maybe the state should give everyone $4500.00 to help buy a new car, oh wait thats what they want to do, oh yeah its not the states money, ITS MY MONEY THAY TAKE FROM ME AND CALL TAXES, these idiots are drunk with our money... time to drain the swamp
Stow, OH
Posted 11:37 AM, 06/20/2009
It is pretty obvious that most of you haven't been inside a public high school lately. The assistant principals are there if only to keep up with the discipline paperwork. With outlawing cell phones, over the counter medication, and everything else that goes on with maintaining a high school, there has to be delegation of authority so that the principal can actually do the principal job. C'mon, folks...you people hopelessly believe your high school is as it was in the 1950s/60s/70s or even 80s. Times have changed, and so have the administrative needs of schools.
Posted 01:30 PM, 06/20/2009
As a former Tallmadge resident I am appalled at the way their school board waste money. If they wouldn't have wasted the amount of money they did on their new palace oh pardon me new high school they would not be in the fix they are in
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 02:43 PM, 06/20/2009
As a new resident and parent of a Tallmadge school student, I am baffled by the way the schools and some residents try to play this whole levy game. When deciding to buy a house, my wife and I chose Tallmadge because of the schools, but at the same time I have to say that in this economic climate you'll never get a levy to pass. While I'm glad that some residents haven't felt the affects, both my wife and I have seen recent job loses with a job market that's not hiring. Also, with many residents being seniors, many of whom have lost tremendous amounts of money due to the economy and scandalous corporate pigs, is is fair for you so sit there and ask them for more? Absolutely not!! Maybe since all the administraters care so much, they can give back all their perks like so many have lost. Give back their vacation, sick time, cut their salary by 25-50%. How's that sound? And then, when you personally start to feel sacrifice, we'll ask for MORE!!
tallmadge, oh
Posted 04:25 PM, 06/20/2009
I have no problem with Tallmadge cutting busing except for the fact there are a lot of streets with no sidewalks I have already told my high school student that he will have to ride his bike to school. The only thing I worry about is the people driving around Tallmadge Circle not watching out for the kids. Some highschool students are going to be walking biking over 3 miles each way. Parents have to work and some don't drive or have cars.
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 04:36 PM, 06/20/2009
Retired - I did ride a bus but my parents paid for it and my schooling themselves. Maybe others should try it instead of asking everyone else to pay for their kids and their buses. It's time for people to take personal ownership of their kids education.
Orrville, Oh
Posted 04:48 PM, 06/20/2009
Reality demands Tallmadge School Board put the brakes on spending money derived from workers, consumers, taxpayers, and Americas grandchildren’s children wages or independent business profit. To pay for the more stock dividends (money) Chinese, Foreign and Domestic Investors and Stockholders (money marketers) market quarterly in the wholesale and retail price of EVERY product and service Human Beings use for life and is needed to build, maintain, and operate schools, infrastructure, and Government needs to provide services and national security. Human Beings, School Board, and Government get only product or service!
Akron, OH
Posted 05:35 PM, 06/20/2009
@OldManGrump, even if you parents paid for your education, even private education is subsidized by the state. So, your example does not really support your stance of pay for your own education.
Tallmadge, Oh
Posted 05:49 PM, 06/20/2009
I live in Tallmadge and I have no problem taking my child to school. It's sad the the kids have to lose out in this political mess.
duluth, ga
Posted 10:06 PM, 06/20/2009
You want an education...come get it.
Figure out a way to get here!
Akron, Oh
Posted 10:39 PM, 06/20/2009
Well Loren, at least you changed up your blabber a little.
Tallmadge, Oh
Posted 10:55 PM, 06/20/2009
Some of the drivers are causing the kids to ride buses over an hour at the end of the day. The regular drivers are either not coming to work, or are opting for the more lucritive field trips at the end of the day.
The bus supervisors are then using substitutes who do not know the route, and even stripping the office of administrative people who have'nt driven a bus in years.
That equates to the kids spending over an hour on the bus at the end of the day. How would you like that for yourself or your child?
It does not take more money to properly supervise and train drivers.
stow, oh
Posted 08:15 AM, 06/21/2009
Children should not be on a bus for more than 1 hour and if they are the parents should be contacting the supervisor. The supervision in transportation for the last several years is the problem.
akron, oh
Posted 04:07 PM, 06/21/2009
Tallmadge doesn't have Metro so no riding it to school isn't really going to work now is it. DUH
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 12:51 PM, 06/23/2009
Why wasn't this looked into years ago? The deficit was forecast in a five year budget plan, and in the four years leading up to the shortage, school authorities did nothing to reduce costs. They simply threw levy after levy on ballot after ballot, including two attemps to sneak unpublicized levies onto obscure "special election" or "minor office only" primary ballots, and after each levy failure came forth with some condescending nonsense about voters "not understanding" something or other.
Why didn't they, like other area districts, look into buyouts/early retirement for the most expensive employees' contracts? Why were parking fees kept at a ridiculous level for those kids who drive? Why weren't activity fees imposed or increased two or three years earlier? Why were they continuing to spend money on "free full-day kindergarten" for 80 families?
Eliminating busing is not realistic in a community without sidewalks or streetlights, and school officials need to stop screaming for more money and find some serious cuts. Tallmadge has an older population and only moderate household income levels, and the fact is, many in the community can not afford any more taxes.
And for those who want to tell us we "owe" it to the schools, go donate your share of the tax increase you want to force on others before you lecture anybody else about what they "need" to pay.
In 2004 this school district overspent by two million dollars and called it "immaterial" without ever explaining it. Wouldn't that make a two million dollar deficit equally "immaterial"?
