The committees were considering a privatization proposal that would have affected all Concord students, as well as Carlisle high school students.
Parents, who had been fighting the outsourcing plan, are relieved.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,’’ said one parent, Fred Martin. “We have a stay of execution for next year.’’
While the district tries to find a facility to lease, it will also prepare a new bid for outsourcing that will be ready to go out just in case it cannot find space to lease or the money to pay for it, said John Flaherty, the district’s deputy superintendent for finance and operations.
School administration officials looked at outsourcing bus services because the current transportation facility must be demolished this summer to make way for the new Concord-Carlisle Regional High School. The transportation department, currently on the high school grounds, consists of 36 buses and drivers, three mechanics, three administrators, a bus repair and maintenance building, parking area, administration building, and fuel storage and pump facility.
The district is also facing a budget deficit and had hoped to save money by hiring a private contractor.
Flaherty last month recommended hiring Cincinnati-based First Student to run the bus service starting next year but changed course before the regional and Concord school committees were set to vote on the plan Tuesday night.
The administration has been under fire from parents who have raised concerns about the bidding process, whether outsourcing would save money, and how the change would affect the safety of students. Flaherty said the administration responded to those concerns but ultimately decided to rescind the bids because they received just two.
“We listened to and respect the input from the community but we had already concluded we didn’t get the breadth of response we would like to have seen,’’ Flaherty said.
So instead of moving forward with outsourcing, the school committees jointly voted to lease a facility for the storage and maintenance of its bus fleet. At the same time, Flaherty will work on a new bid for outsourcing that he hopes will attract more competition. The previous bid called for a bus company to use the town’s fleet; the new one would not include that specification, he said.
Ideally, Flaherty said the town will lease a site for next year, spend time analyzing options and decide on a permanent solution starting in September 2013. Options could include outsourcing, leasing a storage and maintenance facility or building a new one.
Timothy Stokes, spokesman for First Student, said the company would be open to rebidding if it made sense for his business and the district’s transit needs.
