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‘Not meeting our expectations’

AMA ESD dropped TBTA when sufficient changes not made after molestation

News File Photo Scott Reynolds, Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District superintendent, appears in this 2018 News file photo.

ALPENA — Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District Superintendent Scott Reynolds said on Wednesday that the district recently started a contract with Dean Transportation because the Thunder Bay Transportation Authority did not make necessary changes for the safety of Pied Piper School students.

“Student safety is our top priority,” Reynolds said.

TBTA board Vice President Adam Poll said TBTA met the expectations that were given by the AMA ESD in May 2017.

“We’ve been constant and have met expectations since we formed as an authority,” Poll said. “We have numerous safety procedures, which we follow. We follow policies as written, which are approved by the entity that has a contract with TBTA.”

Poll said TBTA will continue to provide the best quality service for TBTA riders.

Reynolds said the AMA ESD worked with TBTA to share concerns that were apparent after a bus aide hired by a TBTA contractor was charged in 2016 with molesting multiple students.

Initially, Reynolds said it appeared that TBTA was being responsive with significant changes that were going to be made. The AMA ESD contracted with TBTA for one more year in May 2017 after TBTA presented that it was a different organization. The new contract included language that outlined additional expectations the district had for TBTA, including steps to terminate a contract with Prell’s Services, the contractor that hired the bus aide.

Prell’s Services’ attorney could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

AMA also called for TBTA to develop additional policies and procedures to increase student safety and a demonstrated attitude to operate as a new and improved organization.

The hire of Reynolds as the new AMA ESD superintendent in July 2017 coincided with the required changes of TBTA. But in the fall of 2017, TBTA was not meeting the expectations given to them and, in spite of continued efforts to find a solution, a change in transportation services was needed, Reynolds said.

“As I took over in my seat as superintendent, as a leadership and board of education, we recognized that this is going to require diligence on our part to ensure that it’s meeting our expectations,” Reynolds said. “We realized in doing that that it was not meeting our expectations.”

Reynolds said there was not a response to some of the changes that the AMA ESD identified with TBTA.

“We wanted to make sure that we’re not changing for the sake of change, but that we’ve done our due diligence to align with an organization that’s going to meet the expectations and has been proven,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said stepping into the role of superintendent and being more involved in the process helped initiate the change in transportation service providers.

“Seeing the lack of changes to the extent that we expected, I was in the position to be able to help initiate that discussion for a change,” Reynolds said. “I’m glad to be able to do that.”

The AMA ESD decided to move in a different direction this year, terminating its contract with TBTA in May and agreeing to a contract with Dean Transportation from Lansing. Reynolds said reasons for the change are health, safety, training, financial advantage, and jobs.

“Dean’s got a rigorous training regimen,” he said. “Dean will use yellow school buses that will legally require other vehicles to stop while students are boarding and exiting so that’s an added measure of safety.”

Dean Transportation’s services are limited to students with special needs and Reynolds said that ensures that the AMA ESD is in compliance with the standards to qualify for 70 percent state reimbursement of those busing costs.

The News learned last week that children and their families had filed a class-action lawsuit against TBTA, Prell’s Services, Andrew Bartz, the bus aide who was later convicted of criminal sexual conduct, and Donald Long, the bus driver. AMA ESD is not named in that lawsuit.

Bartz was sentenced to 20 to 30 years on three, first-degree criminal sexual conduct charge and 10 to15 years on a second-degree criminal sexual conduct charge.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5688.

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