By Adam Studzinski
NORMAL – Unit 5’s school board has voted to give transportation provider First Student a bit more time to resolve the district’s busing problems.
The company has until Nov. 1 to reach a deal with the district some expectations moving forward, such as having a 20 percent surplus of drivers by Nov. 22. Board member Michael Trask said he’s been encouraged by the progress made in the last month, but wants to see more.
“As I didn’t support terminating you tonight, Nov. 1 is the day,” said Trask. “If you guys can’t work it out with this group here it’s a done deal; and we move on, and we move out and we move forward.”
Board member Jim Hayek said he’s seen progress as well.
“There’s hope. There certainly has not been a substantive meeting of and of the contract provisions so far, but there’s hope that there will be,” Hayek said.
If the agreement is not kept, Unit 5 will end the contract with First Student at the end of the school year. The district has already begun drawing up a request for proposals in the event they do seek a new transportation provider.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at adam.studzinski@cumulus.com.
