Stories indexed with the term ‘transportation consolidation’

Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education meeting (June 9, 2010): At its second-to-last meeting of the school year on Wednesday, trustee Susan Baskett appealed to the AAPS bus drivers’ union: “I want to stress to the bargaining unit – we’re running out of time.”

The AAPS board of education voted to consider a resolution to consolidate transportation services at its final meeting on June 23, if a competitive bid is not received by the bus drivers’ union before then. Also, after months of discussion, the board passed the 2010-11 budget and accompanying millage to support it.

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, the board approved a new AP Biology textbook, passed a resolution in support of using the state’s School Aid Fund only to fund K-12 schools, and debated the renewal of a contract to outsource the district’s food service. And, for more than half of its six-hour meeting, the board engaged in non-voting business, receiving updates from Skyline High School staff, the USA Hockey team housed at Pioneer High, and the Intergroup/Social Change Agents, a high school program designed to encourage dialogue on social identities. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education meeting (June 4, 2010): At an extra, regular meeting on Friday evening, the school board heard an updated presentation on the details of a proposed consolidation of school transportation services with the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD). The board’s second briefing on the consolidation and its vote, will come Wednesday, June 9.

Brian Marcel, assistant superintendent of business services for WISD, walked board members through the proposal, and went through an extensive list of questions and answers about the plan. A few bus drivers from AAPS, as well as some from Lincoln Consolidated Schools, attended the meeting – one of them, Richard Miller, spoke during public commentary.

The only other business conducted at the meeting was to approve a set of minutes, and to schedule an executive session before the next regular meeting on Wednesday, June 9. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education meeting (April 28, 2010): The most recent regular school board meeting of the Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) ended the debate over privatization of the district’s custodial and maintenance workers – it’s not happening.

The board’s ratification of an agreement between AAPS and local members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union retains the 164 workers and their seven supervisors as AAPS employees. In return, custodial and maintenance workers agreed to lower wages, less vacation time, and almost double the cost of health insurance premiums.

Also at this meeting, an initiative to consolidate the busing services of at least five of the ten school districts in Washtenaw County was introduced to the board as a first briefing item. The consolidation plan is still under development, but as currently formulated, it would save the district $2.1 million in transportation costs, and would require only around 60% of the total number of bus drivers and monitors currently employed by participating districts. Bus drivers hired as part of the consolidated service plan would become employees of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD), maintaining their pensions as part of the state retirement system.

Many community members were on hand to support the numerous award recipients honored during the course of the board’s meeting. But the meeting drew no public commentary, and no one spoke at the embedded public hearing on sexual health curricular materials. Large-scale facilities projects, a personal curriculum option, and policy updates were also approved.

A large, roughly three-hour chunk of the meeting was devoted to a detailed presentation of the district’s current achievement data, and a discussion of the “achievement gap” between students of different races. This topic may be addressed by The Chronicle in a separate article, and is thus mentioned only briefly in this meeting report. [Full Story]