There are no plans to outsource Jackson Madison County School bus driver jobs, says Superintendent Dr Verna Ruffin.

In response to what school board members have described as persistent rumors, Dr Verna Ruffin, contacted all JMCS bus drivers through a letter to assure them the reasons for a Transportation audit are not to outsource jobs.

Due in part to speculation and also because of the recent decision to contract school grounds keeping and custodial work other departments in the system have been worried about the future of their jobs.

School board chairman Jim Campbell said in a recent board meeting that some decisions the board has to make in the coming months will be difficult ones and he understands as one person put it “it feels like the ground is shaking under me”.  Dr Ruffin letter says she wanted to assure the JMCS bus drivers that she and the board have had no such conversation regarding outside contracting of transportation.

Ruffin told the drivers that she appreciates them for being a part of the JMCS team and the job they do daily.  She stated that a “misunderstanding” had come to her attention and she needed to address it with the facts..

Dr Ruffin says the purpose of the audit is in part to

A copy of the letter sent to drivers

August 27, 2014

CLICK HERE TO OPEN LETTER

To all JMCSS Bus Drivers:

The Jackson-Madison County School System, the Jackson-Madison County School Board and I would like to express

our appreciation to you for being a faithful part of our JMCSS Team as a bus driver. We thank you for being a part

of our team that is dedicated to delivering our students from their home to school and back each and every day.

We also understand it is a challenge for all when other drivers are not at work every day.

It has come to my attention that there has been a misunderstanding regarding the upcoming Transportation Audit

that was approved earlier this school year. I would like to provide you with some information that I hope will be

helpful in explaining what will be taking place over the coming weeks and why this audit is necessary.

The goal of the district is to provide quality student transportation services using the best resources available to

meet the needs of our students. In order to understand how we can provide the best service we must conduct this

audit in order to review our workload, review job responsibilities and review work distribution and work flow

within the Transportation Department. During this audit, we will:

*Assess bus utilization, route efficiencies, bell times and operational changes and improvements that will

strengthen the District quality student transportation.

*Assess the system for transportation service qualities, such as ride times, bus loads, walking distances, and

pick up drop-off times, for changes and improvements that will strengthen the District quality student

transportation.

This audit has not yet taken place but will take place in the coming weeks. You can expect regular updates from

the district office as well as continuing dialogue on the Superintendent’s Blog located on the school website at

www.jmcss.org and you expect additional communication in the form of this type of letter in the future in order to

keep you better informed of our progress. I do want to assure you that at no time has the school board or myself

had any dialogue about outsourcing transportation. You are a vital part of our school system and it is our plan to

utilize the information we gather to improve our transportation system, not only for our students, but also for

those dedicated to providing quality transportation for the families in our community.

Best regards,

Verna Ruffin, Ed. D.

Superintendent

Jackson-Madison County School System