Submitted by Denair Unified School District

A company that has supplied bus drivers on an emergency basis since the first of the year is expected to be hired on a full-time basis at a special meeting of the Denair Unified School District board tonight.

Denair needs two drivers each in the morning and afternoon to handle its routes. But repeated recruitment efforts last fall generated no qualified applicants. Instead, other district employees qualified to drive a bus – a custodian, a utility worker and a transportation supervisor – had to take time away from their other duties.

Since the first of the year, Storer Transportation Services of Modesto has furnished drivers to operate Denair’s buses. At tonight’s meeting, trustees will consider whether to make that arrangement permanent through the end of this school year in May.

Storer was the only bus company to respond after the school board requested bids in December.

The proposed contract would pay Storer $75,400 for the remainder of this school year. The conditions of the deal require Storer to use and maintain Denair’s four buses and offer an equivalent position to the district’s former transportation supervisor.

About 120 of Denair’s 1,300 elementary through high school students ride the bus daily, district officials said. Linda Covello, Denair’s chief business officer, said the outsourcing arrangement will be re-evaluated at the end of the school year.

Tonight’s DUSD Board of Trustees meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Leadership/Board Room, 3460 Lester Road, Denair. The full agenda is available on the district’s website.