2/26/08

Columbus Dispatch

Simone Sebastian

Columbus students still ride school buses operated by the company whose blunder shut down the district for a day last year.

But the First Student name is being de-emphasized after school district officials asked the company to relabel all of its buses.

The Columbus schools ended their contract with First Student after the district canceled classes for a day because the company had not conducted proper background checks on its drivers. But First Student’s parent company, FirstGroup PLC, took over Laidlaw International Inc., which has a $3.6 million contract with Columbus schools to run 56 routes this school year.

District administrators asked that First Student not transfer its name to buses used for Columbus students, according to a memo that district Chief Operating Officer Larry Hoskins wrote last summer.

Now, First Student has agreed to make all buses say “Columbus City Schools” and to pay for the change. The name originally on the bus — First Student or Laidlaw — still will appear in smaller print on the lower part of the bus, spokeswoman Kimberly Mulcahy said.

“It was a joint decision,” Mulcahy said. “We thought that it reinforced our partnership with Columbus City Schools.”

An internal district memo gave another reason for the change.

“Due to … recent negative news generated by the problems First Student had with bus drivers, both the district and First Group Inc. believed it was in the best interest of both parties to relabel the buses,” Steve Simmons, the Columbus schools director of transportation, told district bus drivers in the memo.

Twenty-four Ohio districts use private contractors to bus some students.

In most cases, private contractors’ buses bear the name of their company, said Pete Japikse, the state director of school transportation. But there are exceptions, he said.

About 35,000 Columbus students ride school buses, mostly district-owned vehicles. The five private companies that contract with the district collectively handle about 10,000 students, primarily those attending charter and private schools.

Cincinnati schools use only private bus drivers. All of their school buses bear the name of the contracting company, a district spokeswoman said.

The district sought the change in part because of troubles with the company’s drivers.