Despite a unanimous recommendation by the director of the Brownsville Independent School District's Transportation Department, its CEO, a program administrator, and an Asst. Superintendent that the district purchase 60 buses to replace an aging fleet that is draining the annual maintenance budget, a majority of the board has refused to vote on the matter.
Trustees Hector Chirinos, Minerva Peña, Enrique Escobedo and Christina Saavedra instead decided to ignore the recommendation by Transportation Dept. Director Art Rendon, CEO Ismael Garcia, Asst. Principal Tony Juarez and Program Administrator Rosario Peña.Lucy Longoria, Otis Powers and Catalina Presas-Garcia voted to follow the committee's recommendations.
As a result, the $5.227 million purchase of the 42 regular buses and 18 Special Needs school buses has been delayed and the safety of the students riding on dilapidated buses will continue until the majority of the board directs the administration to submit the item for action at a regular meeting.
And, given the logistics involved in ordering new buses, there is a lag time of between four or five months before there will actually be new buses available to replace the old rolling stock.
The recommendation was made to the BISD administration and the agenda for the board's May 5 meeting and included and action item on the bids submitted by three companies, International Controls Corp., Rush Bus (Blue Bird), and Thomas Bus.
The committee chose Thomas Bus because of the lower interest rate compared to the others (between 1.525 and 1.882). Thomas Bus also had a tax-exempt five-year installment plan. International Controls had a rate varying between 1.89 and 1.99 percent. Blue Bird had an interest rate of 2.45 percent.
Funds for the new buses was already budgeted by previous BISD boards.
A cursory glance at the cost of interest for the installment purchase shows that Thomas would charge about $200,000 over five years, International about $253,000, and Blue Bird about $320,000.
There is, as there always is, a political side to this issue as well. International Controls is based out of the Upper Valley and has been known to be very aggressive in its sales approach with local boards. Chirinos, as the former head of Transportation, has close ties to its principals and the Region One bureaucracy also has a close historical relation to the company's vendors.
According to the recommendations made as long ago as March 21, the Transportation Dept. had submitted its choice to the BISD administration. It submitted a comprehensive breakdown of the factors affecting their decision.
Among those was the Thomas Bus low front profile giving drivers greater forward visibility, compatibility of the multiplex wiring for future electronics additions, local service after sale commitment, cost per vehicle, overall lower interest rates and the "plug and play" ability for electronics additions (GPS, cameras, etc.)
It is unknown when the issue might be brought back by the BISD administration for board consideration or whether they will vote to throw out the bids and have the vendors resubmit bids on the buses. Until then, BISD will continue to waste money on its aging bus fleet and subject its Special Needs and other studetns to the current level of breakdowns and delays.
What will it be Trustee Chirinos?
6 comments:
The Trustees (who we don't trust) are making a statement to Art Rendon.....it has nothing to do with the need of new buses. It is to challenge Rendon. The "Trustees" would rather have the kids ride in rusty buses than to admit that Rendon is right. BISD Trustees are a bunch of DICKs and their need for financial reembursment, is much like the Cameron County judicial corruption system. No pay...no play,
Rendon is not smart enough to know what buses are needed. I would not trust any recommendation that he makes. Smart board to reject his wishes.
First, the bus drivers union that got Chirinos elected needs to get their raise. Once this happens, then they'll complain about how the buses are unsafe and will demand the new buses. Their wallets come first, though. Mark my words...
BISD management cannot be trusted to make a sound recommendation. Mr. Chirino was the manager of the bus system and the Forensic Audit report recommended strong administrative action against Mr. Chirinos , including termination. Now Mr. Chirinos is a Board Member and making decisions on how to waste more money. We are not a rich district. If they don't want to ride on dilapidated buses they can walk. I walked from the first grade thru the 12th grade. The tax payers can not afford more spending that is not needed. Have any of the eleven(11) recommendations/actions been implemented to improve the bus system?. Read the Forensic Audit Report for the waste in the bus system. What has management done to correct the problems. Look at the line of cars delivering children every morning and waiting to pick up children. Do we really need a bus system in all areas? Mexico parent's use a "share a ride" when they bring their children to school in the U.S..
Most of the districts buses are Internationals, I used to be a district mechanic and pay taxes in Brownsville, in my opinion Thomas buses suck and support is not there, why would you want to invest on something you cant rely on.
Why Thomas, because Rendon make a deal with them with Cata's approval. They are moving money somewhere just look people, look!
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