The Monroe County Community School Corporation sent a letter to Auxilio Services this week saying it's terminating its contract with the Michigan-based busing company next month.
The decision comes after the school corporation notified Auxilio last month it was in breach of contract and had 30 days to fix problems with buses and routes.
MCCSC Spokesperson Andrew Clampitt wouldn't provide many details, but says the corporation sent Auxilio a notice of termination of contract this week.
"All we can say is that we've told them the contract will be terminated on October 13," Clampitt says.
MCCSC hired the corporate bus fleet to handle 42 of its 124 routes this year because of a shortage of bus drivers. Community members criticized the decision at a school board meeting in March. At the time, some expressed concerns with Auxilio's operation standards.
Muncie Community Schools also hired Auxilio to handle its routes, but decided to cancel multiple days of classes the first week of school because of widespread problems. MCCSC assured parents the issues were isolated to Muncie and bus drivers would be prepared for the first day of school in Bloomington.
But when that day came in August, Auxilio only provided enough drivers to cover 18 of its 42 routes. That resulted in some routes being delayed as many as 90 minutes and some children never getting picked up for school. MCCSC Superintendent Judith DeMuth apologized to parents in a letter, saying the corporation was working on fixing the length of its routes, overcrowding on buses and issues with its busing app.
The issue reached a boiling point at an Aug. 22 school board meeting, where several parents urged the school board to terminate its contract with Auxilio. The school board approved bus driver salary increases during the meeting, in an effort to help with bus driver recruitment. The corporation also recently started an advertising blitz to try to attract more drivers.
Deborah Atlas' daughter rides a bus route that MCCSC outsourced to Auxilio. She says she's happy to hear the corporation is ending its contract with the private company.
"It's a good thing because I think the trust just wasn't there and I haven't seen any reason to believe that trust was coming back," Atlas says.
She's hopeful MCCSC will be able to shorten the amount of time students spend on buses after the contract is terminated. And she hopes the controversy has been a learning experience for the school board.
"I think there have been two instances just in the last couple of months where they made decisions that the community didn't like, with the lunch shaming policy and the Auxilio contract," she says. "And I understand that they have multiple competing interests that they have to weigh and they have to consider, but I am hopeful that they're listening more and they understand that the community is watching and will speak up when it's necessary."
Representatives from Auxilio did not respond to requests for comment.
