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The following note from Bob McQuillan has been sent to the School Board.
One resident forwarded me information that I found extremely interesting. The school district in Ankeny Iowa was sued by the union and an individual parent in 2005 over their decision to outsource the district’s transportation services. When that decision was made, Dr. Kent Mutchler served as Ankeny’s superintendent. While the lawsuits were found to be without merit on March 9, 2007, approximately 1,200 residents signed a petition opposing the outsourcing of the transportation services. There was also a separate petition requesting the superintendent resign.
On February 4, 2005 the Ankeny School District published legal notice requesting proposals from private contractors to provide “pupil transportation services.” On March 14, 2005 presentations were made by three transportation services firms to the Ankeny School Board. On April 23, 2005 the board agreed in a 4-3 vote to outsource the transportation service of the Ankeny School District.
Based on Dr. Mutchler’s comments at a spring board meeting when outsourcing transportation in Geneva was discussed, he clearly was not in support of even going to competitive bid. He made the statement that it would take 400 man-hours to just develop a proposal. From the time-line above, this is clearly not the case. I believe that Dr. Mutchler is biased against going to competitive bid because of the events in Ankeny.
I am suggesting, as a resident of the community of Geneva, that the board readdress the competitive bid proposal idea at a board meeting prior to October 31, 2009. I would suggest that the proposal include a volunteer community committee that will study the issue, review competitive bids and present their opinion prior to April 1, 2010. The board is already reviewing the option of leasing buses longer than one year at a time, this would just be an extension of that review.
As this is a community issue and all information is public, I am sharing this e-mail with other members of the community. As a matter of privacy, I will blind carbon copy those members of the community receiving this e-mail.
Dave:
Here’s the link to the Sears decision. This will give you all the background on what happened.
Here’s the link to the article, with the video in the upper right corner, of people requesting Mutchler’s resignation in May of 2006 in Iowa.
Here’s the link to the article and video detailing his resignation in June of 2006.
Isn’t it interesting that local school board actions draw the interest of television news crews in Iowa, yet here we get nothing but puff pieces from the local press.
Isn’t it interesting that his Iowa staff could in less than 4 months whip up a Request for Proposal, solicit proposals, evaluate them and have the Board vote to outsource transportation services. Yet here, with our bloated administration and a plethora of willing consultants apparently on call, we can’t get this moving even after all the heat generated by our documented- to- be unusually high transportation costs in this district. I guess this explains the reticence to touch transportation services. All the more reason the Board should be forcing this issue.
And isn’t it also interesting that the gentle folk of Iowa were agitated enough to get 600 signatures on a petition seeking his ouster and yet less than two months later we sign him to a five year contract. He must be a hell of a negotiator.
Written by Dave · Filed Under Schools
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