February 17, 2018 To: ‘The Hamilton Board of Education From: Attorney D. Scott Bennett Regarding: REVISIONS TO TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT POLICIES Jelerear ero bE OSORIO IRIE SOE AGAROSE ERASERS Recent;y, the transportation needs of the Hamilton County Schools have been under close review. As part of this review, is become apparent that the policies adopted from TSBA. do not conform to the existing practices of the Hamilton County School System. Additionally, new practices, such as the creation of true independent contractors who can employ their own drivers, require revisions to the existing policies. Ihave attempted to review existing policies and to make revisions so that these policies accurately reflect what Hamilton County School System is presently doing and what the Hamilton Board of Education has asked the Administration to consider. Board Policy No. 3.400, STUDENT TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT Lrecommend that this policy be deleted in its entirety and replaced with the following: The Board of Education will utilize a combination of owner-operator employees, owner-operator independent contractors, and one or more corporate independent contractors to provide transportation services to the students of the Hamilton County Schools. The owner-operators and independent contractors shall be responsible for maintaining and operating their buses in accordance with state law, the Rules and Regulations of the Tennessee Board of Education, and the transportation manual developed by the Director of Transportation for Hamilton County Schools. ~~ - ~~~ ~The Transportation Director shall develop procedures for the operation of the ——— student transportation program, and these procedures shall be applicable to the owner-operator employees, the owner-operator independent contractors, and any corporate independent contractor. The Director of Transportation shall work closely with school principals to evaluate the effectiveness of the student transportation program on an ongoing basis. The Director of Transportation shall submit summaries of these evaluations before the November and June school board meetings to the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Education.Board Policy No. 3.401, SCHEDULING AND ROUTING Trecommend keeping this policy as is with a few changes. I recommend deleting the sentence in Lines 5 and 6, "deleting or establishing new bus routes is the responsibility of the Board,” and instead inserting a new sentence, "the Transportation Director is solely responsible for developing and assigning various bus routes throughout the county, The Transportation Director has sole discretion to designate a route as an owner-operator route, an independent contractor route, or a corporate independent contractor route." T would also suggest deleting the last paragraph at Lines 25 through 27 and inserting as follows "the Hamilton County Board of Education provides transportation to each student's zoned school. If a parent chooses to send his or her child to a school other than the zoned school, then the parent must provide transportation to and from that school." Board policy 3.402, SPECIAL USE OF SCHOOL BUSES recommend leaving this policy as is. Board policy 3.403, TRAFFIC AND PARKING CONTROLS Trecommend leaving this policy as is. Board policy 3.404, PRIVATE VEHICLES Trecommend leaving this policy as is with the exception of deleting line 9, "a specific form for cach trip involving students, including field trips." That appears to be an incomplete sentence, and I am uncertain what the TSBA drafters intended. Tnote, however, that this policy is difficult to enforce. I also note that some smaller programs may find it very difficult to operate without the use of an employee's private ~~” ~~ Vehicle. This policy stops short of forbidding an employee from driving a student, and the practical effect is that, if the Board fails to prohibit an employee from driving the student, then the Board might find itself liable notwithstanding the disclaimer at Line 11. I believe the policy committee needs to consider this matter further. Board policy number 3.405, OWNER-OPERATOR BUS SERVICE. Trecommend deleting this policy in its entirety since it is largely covered by the two separate contracts approved by the Board. In place of this policy, I would insert thefollowing: ‘The Board of Education will utilize two types of owner-operators as part of the student transportation program, employees and independent contractors. Owner-operator employees The Superintendent of Schools is authorized to employ owner-operators for terms of up to four years subject to contracts approved by the Board. Owner‘operator employees shall work under the direction of the Superintendent of Schools and the ‘Transportation Director. An owner-operator who has been suspended or terminated during his or her contract term may appeal his or her discipline to an impartial hearing officer selected pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-512. The hearing officer's final decision shall be final. Owner-operator independent contractors ‘The Board may retain the services of certain owner-operators who may themselves employee one or more drivers to operate routes designated by the Transportation Director. The terms of service for these independent contractors will be governed by the contract developed by Board of Education and the policy manual developed by the Transportation Director. In the event there is a vacant route that the Director of Transportation has assigned to an independent contractor, the Superintendent of Schools and Transportation Director shall solicit appropriate applicants for this vacancy, starting with existing independent contractors and owner-operator employees who may wish to become independent contractors. No independent contractor may operate more than three routes, it being the expectation of this Board that each contractor shall have a high level of familiarity with his or her buses, their routes, and their drivers. When selecting an independent contractor fill a vacancy, the Administration shall conduct a thorough background check to determine whether the candidate is qualified to serve in this capacity. The Superintendent of Schools and the Transportation Director shall then recommend the most qualified applicants to fill the vacancy of vacancies, and the Board shall approve the appointments. Tn the event an applicant does not receive the Superintendent's recommendation to hire, he or she may appeal the Superintendent's decision by addressing a letter to the Chairman of the Board of Education explaining why he or she believes he or she should have been retained as an independent contractor. The Superintendent and the Transportation Director may respond to the applicant's letter, and both the letter and the response will be shared with the Board prior to the next Board