The road has had a few rough patches in the Council Rock School District’s experience with its new student transportation provider, Durham School Services, L.P.
But school board President Ed Salamon said at the Sept. 15 meeting that district administrators and other personnel will continue working to smooth them out.
Late buses and canceled routes have been among the problems since schools opened in late August.
“We knew rolling out a new company was not going to be easy,” Salamon said. “Every kid has been affected by this, one way or the other. Trust us, we’re going to get it right.”
Council Rock officials and Durham recently agreed on a seven-year contract that kicked in Aug. 1 and extends through July 31, 2029.
District Superintendent Andy Sanko, who along with other officials recently held a public forum to talk about busing problems and how they are being addressed, said there are troubles at the start of every school year with working out the kinks in student transportation. Those problems have been made worse the last few years by the nationwide shortage of school bus drivers, Sanko added.
“I’ve heard from other districts,” said Joseph Hidalgo, who along with other board members praised administrators for their efforts on the problems. “We’re not the only ones in this boat.”
In other actions from the meeting, the school board approved the hiring of three new administrators. They are Supervisor of Facilities/Physical Plant Jessica Binda-Rischow at a starting salary of $130,000, Council Rock High School South Assistant Principal/Athletic Director Tim Dailey ($134,000) and Supervisor of Special Education David Marcinkowski ($125,000).
Binda-Rischow will have much the same duties as former Operations Director Doug Taylor but with a different title, Sanko explained. Among those duties will be overseeing maintenance and renovation projects, he added. Binda-Rischow was most recently capital projects coordinator for the Central Bucks School District, where she managed the district’s design, procurement and construction processes.
Marcinkowski is being promoted from his Council Rock special education teacher position. Dailey comes to the district from Father Judge High School in Philadelphia.
During public comment at the Sept. 15 meeting, school district residents Wendy King and Misty Lawflurry criticized the participation of board member Mariann McKee and some district teachers and support personnel in a press conference held earlier that day just outside Council Rock’s Chancellor Center in Newtown Borough.
The event, organized by the Pennsylvania State Education Association, was held to criticize Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano’s education plan. King and Lawflurry said the participation in an event they considered political was inappropriate.
“In the middle of the school day, some of our teachers were there,” Lawflurry said. “Were they getting paid to make political speeches?”
McKee, a former Council Rock teacher, did not respond during the meeting and declined to comment when approached afterward.
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