The Lynn School Committee received a detailed presentation Feb. 27 from Transportation Manager Joanne Castillo on efforts to improve student transportation reliability, reduce late arrivals and strengthen vendor accountability.

Castillo said the department has implemented a "live sheet" in September so principals can log bus arrivals and departures and is sharing weekly data with its main vendor, NRT, to adjust routes. In November NRT launched a vendor call-center program called Beacon Connect and added dispatch staff, Castillo said, but the district found NRT's overall capacity stretched. Castillo said the district began weekly meetings with NRT in January and has worked with the nursing department and school leaders to ensure medically dependent rides are covered when nurses are absent.

To reduce single-vendor dependency, Castillo said the district will structure a new contract (the current contract expires June 30, 2025) to allow multiple vendors so smaller companies may be awarded specific routes or clusters of schools. "By expanding the transportation team and expanded our vendors, we will be able to be more proactive instead of reactive," Castillo said. She added the district is enforcing contract penalties for late buses; she read an FY24 vendor charge figure that the transcript recorded as "11,913,664 with 39¢." Castillo characterized the figure as the reported FY24 contract amount provided in discussion with the vendor (the precise accounting and presentation in the transcript appears to include transcription artifacts).

Committee members asked about parent reimbursements, incident investigations and whether NRT had been nonresponsive; Castillo described investigation procedures (request video/audio, follow up with schools and families) and said the district was assessing smaller, local vendors that could provide better tracking, camera/audio capability and more stable staffing.

Deputy Superintendent Marisol (last name not provided in the transcript) and Superintendent Dr. Alvarez participated in the discussion and described prior pilot procurement runs (McKinney-Vento contracts used multiple vendors for homeless student transport) and the desire to replicate that model for other routes. Member questions focused on special-education transportation priorities, monitoring and communications with families. Committee members praised Castillo's data-driven approach and encouraged continued coordination with HR and the city's procurement office.

No formal vote was required that evening; the presentation laid out direction and next steps: continue weekly monitoring of vendor performance, include accountability clauses and technical requirements in the next contract, and pursue a multi-vendor procurement to begin when the current contract ends.

The committee did not adopt a new contract at the meeting; the district will present procurement specifications and contract recommendations in a future meeting for committee approval.