Sixty-seven companies submitted bids for the city’s seniority-protection-less school bus contracts. (NY1)
Bus companies sued for the right to curb seniority rights in current contracts. (Daily News, SchoolBook)
Hard times are setting in for striking bus drivers, who have not worked or been paid in weeks. (WNYC)
Michael Benjamin: That new bids were submitted means that Mayor Bloomberg has won the strike. (Post)
Strike- and Hurricane Sandy-induced absences are causing a closer look at state tests. (GothamSchools)
The city’s theoretical plan for evaluations implementation is in but remains thin. (GothamSchools, NY1)
A city private school for the “gifted” has hired the head of the public Hunter College gifted schools. (WSJ)
An longtime Board of Regents member says the state should not have joined Race to the Top. (Lo-Hud)
Celia Oyler
Does anyone know how to read WSJ articles without a subscription? The link posted above the school for the “gifted” doesn’t get me to the article.
Tim_Parent
Use Google News to search for “School for ‘Gifted’ Is Aiming Higher”.
P.S. I’m not happy about these Disqus changes, GS. Not happy at all.
Tim_Parent
“A common complaint of educators from the Lower Hudson Valley is that state reforms are really aimed at New York City and other urban districts and ignore the fine job done by most suburban districts. Many wince when Cuomo repeatedly talks about New York’s poor graduation rate, since most suburban rates compare well with the best-performing states.
“I’m very sympathetic to their frustration,” Phillips said. “We have a lot of great schools. When you factor out the poorest kids, we do great. Number one in the world. Scarsdale has said for years, ‘Leave us alone. Our tests are more rigorous than yours.’ ”
“Phillips wasn’t sure why the state can’t focus on helping needy students in big-city schools without clamping down on everyone else.”
Do Regent Phillips and the complaining downstate educators honestly not see the connection between our region’s hypersegregation and the “fine job” being done by most suburban districts?
Are Regent Phillips and the complaining downstate educators proposing measures to help ‘needy students in big-city schools’? Like raising state taxes, e.g., or electing legislators who will make sure the cities get their fair share, rather than kick and scream and complain that they are a drain on society? How about offering free K-12 scholarships, including boarding if need be, for at-risk non-residents, or convincing their home communities to build affordable housing and revise zoning laws?
The absence of these types of proposals, coupled with staunch opposition to choice or anything that might give kids warehoused in neighborhoods burdened by crime, high unemployment, pollution (esp lead/PM2.5s), and poor health outcomes a semblance of a fighting chance . . . it’s offensive.
flerp
“We have a lot of great schools. When you factor out the poorest kids, we do great.”
In fact, that’s why we moved to Scarsdale: to factor out the poorest kids.
noryeln
I so agree with the comment about the changes. it’s very cumbersome and I really am not interested in promoting diqus, twitter, facebook etc
noryeln
“They also estimated that busing children under the same period of time
would have cost $64.8 million, or more than three times as much.”
You can’t tell me that 64 milllion or more goes to bus driver or matron salaries…the bus companies have to be making a profit. How much is it? At the CC hearing on Friday, the DOE claimed not to have a break dwon of any costs. That is simply not good business practice.
flerp
I don’t know why you’d think the city would, or even should, have breakdowns of each company’s expenses. These are private companies, and are probably also not publicly traded.
But yes, it’s safe to assume that the amount of money that gets paid to drivers and matrons is some number lower than the total amount the city pays bus companies. It’s even reasonable to assume that some of them are making a bigger profit than they should be, given the many incentives to inflate bids under the old regime.
It’s a publicly bid contract now, so there should be a reasonable expectation that the public, or a public agency, would ask for a break down of the expenses from the contractor for that bid only.
flerp
Like I said, I don’t know why you think that’s a reasonable expectation. I could see why a bus company might want to justify its bid by outlining its costs, but I don’t see why we would expect the city to collect and maintain that information, since its role is simply to obtain the best price from the “lowest responsible bidder.”
But again, you can assume that driver and matron wages and benefits make up a significant percentage of the bus companies’ expenses, but do not make up 100% of the bus companies’ expenses. You can also assume that all of the companies are either making a profit or trying to make a profit.
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