Schools
Stillwater Schools Hire New Bus Company; Delays To Last Until Summer
The new provider will cost about $1 million more a year than the district's current provider, which it sued last year.
STILLWATER, MN — Stillwater Area Public Schools officials recently secured a new busing company for the coming school year as they work their way through the legal system with the district’s current transportation provider.
Schmitty & Sons Transportation will serve as the district’s new busing contractor. The company’s contract will start July 1 so the district can provide transportation for students to participate in special programming over the summer.
The board on April 28 approved a six-year contract for Schmitty & Sons by a 6-1 vote, with member Tina Riehle providing the lone dissenting vote. The board also approved a six-year sublease agreement with the company for the district's Lake Elmo bus terminal.
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Officials said the new contract will cost the district about $1 million more annually than its current contract.
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Riehle said she felt it was “just a really risky move at this time” for the district to agree to a more expensive, long-term contract amid unsettled litigation and potential future changes to school boundaries.
Interim Superintendent Malinda Lansfeldt said transportation costs were “artificially depressed” due to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and pointed to inflation, gas prices and higher employee wages as drivers for increased costs.
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Board member Bev Petrie said she doesn’t think “anyone on this board is happy about the fact that we’re being asked to pay more for transportation.”
“But any one of our families out there can tell you that we needed to make a change,” she said.
Schmitty & Sons is an employee-owned company that’s been in business for 70 years. Officials said the company has a “tremendous reputation for providing safe and reliable transportation,” something the current provider has struggled to provide for students in recent months.
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The Stillwater Area Public Schools board hired Fridley-based Metro Transportation Network as its busing provider in May 2020. The board disregarded a recommendation from district staff to hire MTN, in part to save about $100,000 across four years, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported.
The district sued MTN in September, claiming a breach of contract because the company could not cover all of the routes it had promised to cover.
Officials also warned more than a thousand families within two miles of their schools that the district might not be able to provide transportation for their students amid a widespread bus-driver shortage.
Issues — and litigation — with MTN have persisted since, prompting Stillwater Area Public Schools officials to find another contractor.
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Officials said last week that they expect delays to continue through the end of the 2021-22 school year, with MTN “down a few drivers.”
Some routes may be canceled, while others could be combined to provide busing for as many students as possible, officials said.
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