The Barrington School Committee has approved a five-year contract with Ocean State Transit to provide busing for district students. 

Ocean State is the current transportation provider for Barrington schools.

At the meeting on Thursday night, June 12, Barrington School Committee members voted 4-0 to approve the new agreement, which will pay Ocean State “the total base amount of $10,700,229.68 over the five-year term of the agreement…” 

The contract states that the amount may be increased or decreased pursuant to a fuel adjustment clause. 

During the meeting, school officials spoke about changes made from previous transportation contracts. The school committee’s attorney, Aubrey Lombardo, said an effort was made to integrate items from the RFP (request for proposals) posted by the district into the new contract. 

The contract included an understanding of the upcoming school construction project, which calls for the renovation/construction at Sowams School, Nayatt School, Primrose Hill School, and Barrington High School, and the closure of Hampden Meadows School. 

“As such, the contractor agrees to work with the school district concerning redistricting, subsequent route revision, and revisions to the school start/end times,” stated the contract. “The contractor understands that this may result in the need for fewer buses and staff and result in cost savings to the school district…”

The new contract details compensation for shortened routes or repercussions for missed busing routes. 

“A scheduled trip may be cancelled by the school district’s director of finance or designee by notifying the contractor verbally or in-writing as soon as possible on or before the day on which the particular trip is scheduled,” stated the contract. “There shall be no charge for such cancelled trips. If a scheduled trip is cancelled with less than one hour notice, the contractor shall be paid two hours of drive time at the driver time and rate identified in the bid specifications.”

Committee member Tim McNamara commented on the new contract during the June 12 meeting. He said that in his role as coach for a high school sports team he had experienced the busing first-hand. McNamara said he witnessed some thing he did not expect to see, and was happy to see changes in the contract.

Contract costs

The first year of the contract includes a cost of $465 per school bus, per day, for regular transportation routes. The district is calling for 12 buses for 180 days, resulting in a total cost of $1,005,069. The contract also includes two late buses (total cost of $27,968), one mid-day 20-passenger bus (total cost of $13,984), four special education buses (total cost of $309,369), and one special education wheelchair-capable mini-van (total cost of $56,935). 

The contract includes costs for busing to athletic events and out-of-district schools, as well as bus monitors, bus drivers, and summer transportation. 

The costs increase over the five-year contract period. For example, the cost for the 12 school buses goes to $565 per bus, per day for a total cost of $1,221,652.

Approval of the new busing contract nearly coincided with news of a police investigation into an alleged sexual assault on a Barrington school bus. 

Police said an elementary school student made an allegation about inappropriate touching on June 12. Police said the suspect is an employee of the bus company that services Barrington Public Schools. 

Barrington Superintendent of Schools Rob Wargo sent a letter to families of local students stating, in part, that the district is working with Ocean State Transit to review and evaluate all of their safety training requirements, protocols and practices. 

“We are also reviewing our district’s own safety procedures across all areas of student transportation,” Wargo wrote.