Government agencies put out request for proposals (RFP) daily, with the expectation they will be answered within a given deadline.
But Hamilton County Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Lee McDade told Hamilton County school board members Wednesday night an RFP for school bus companies to transport students would take up to a year.
It’s now December, slightly less than eight months before the next school year begins. It is hard to imagine an RFP couldn’t be written – perhaps the current one updated – and sent out, and the board not receive proposals in time to act before the next school year. Nevertheless, we acknowledge there are things about such a process we don’t know. Yet, we feel the glacial speed of such an act is another reason parents and community members have lost confidence in the school district.
Durham School Services, the current buses operator, winds up its four-year contract with the district at the end of this school year. Critics on the Hamilton County Board of Education and in the community are not sure they want Durham back after six Woodmore School student riders were killed when company-hired driver Johnthony Walker wrapped a bus around a tree while, according to officials, he was speeding on Talley Road on Nov. 21.
Photo Gallery
Tinsel and Tutus @ Reynolds Performance Hall — 12/12/13
12/12 — The Conway Symphony Orchestra entertained with Christmas music, including highlights from The Nutcracker performed by the Arkansas Festival Ballet.