As a concerned taxpayer and 16 year resident of Northwood, the bus crisis has been a topic of concern. Searching for more information, I submitted an RTN request. The SAU office and the documents I received were astonishing. The Northwood bus crisis was self-inflicted, courtesy of the Northwood school board and superintendent Gadomski. We ended up in crisis because our bus company, Northwood Transportation, could no longer afford to service our community despite still having a year left on a 3-year contract.
August 2016 found NT short a driver and a bus run, which caused NT a loss of $43,000. NT told the board and superintendent Gadomski this was a financial burden on NT as the company had fixed expenses. The NT busing contract included a mid-day kindergarten run. When the board voted to implement all-day kindergarten (going against the voters of Northwood who voted against it four years in a row), it omitted the midday-run. NT submitted their letter ceasing service to Northwood School district the next day on April 21, 2017, citing the loss of the midday-run as the reason.
May 4, 2017, the board voted to send out an RFP (request for proposal) to get bussing bids, yet our superintendent and school board chair did not send it out until June 15. Why would they wait so long?
It’s bad enough we had a defaulted bus contract and no bus company, but it’s even worse when we find that our superintendent and school board failed to verify the only form of protection that we had in the bussing contract- the required surety performance bond. The bond was a requirement in the contract which required NT to put up collateral to the bond company in order to guarantee the contract in case of default, which NT did default. Without the performance bond, we are responsible for ALL the costs incurred in this bussing fiasco including increased busing costs, $4500 bonuses, childcare ($1000 per week) and all legal fees.
These are irresponsible business practices from those who are supposed to be trusted with taxpayer funds. What other parts of the bus contract weren’t verified, liability insurance? Are the bus contracts in Nottingham and Strafford also left without bond protection? What other irresponsible business practices will we be responsible for? The Northwood school board chair Keith McGuigan and superintendent Gadomski need to resign so we can find competent and responsible people to fill their positions.
GrokWatch Note: this is merely the first post in a series that may go on for a bit. After hearing from other ‘Grok readers, this is just yet another instance of local School Boards going rogue. There is one common thread among them all – and that would be the NH School Board Association. Their watchword / PR phrase is “At your service since 1916” – we think that the “non-operative” is “your”; perhaps something more in line with “serving ourselves” may be a better fit.
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