East Aurora School District 131 is looking to test drive a new provider of alternative transportation services next school year.
At a recent meeting, the district’s school board approved a contract with EverDriven, which provides private transportation services for other Illinois school districts, that will enable the district to try out working with the company.
The district already has a contract with First Alt, which operates concurrently with partner company First Student, to provide transportation for the district’s McKinney-Vento students, according to a memo from Gladys De Lucio, the district’s director of transportation. The federal McKinney-Vento law requires school districts to identify and provide assistance to homeless students.
But, while First Alt provides the majority of transportation services for the district’s McKinney-Vento students, staffing shortages occasionally arise because of the size and changing nature of the student population in need of these services, per De Lucio’s memo.
Currently, around 140 to 150 district students are transported every day as part of these services, though the number varies, De Lucio explained at a recent East Aurora School District Buildings and Grounds Committee meeting. Some students are local, but some are coming from places like Chicago, DeKalb and Joliet, she said.
And First Alt, De Lucio said, “just can’t fulfill the need that (the district has).”
Currently, the district’s backup plan for these students is to use taxis, she explained.
But some taxi providers lack things like onboard video cameras, appropriate safety equipment and transportation aides, the district memo noted.
“We want to get away from that,” De Lucio said of the district’s use of taxis to transport students. “So, we have another company that wants to come in and kind of fill in the gaps where needed.”
The district is initiating a one-year contract with EverDriven for these services, essentially on a trial basis, she explained.
EverDriven already operates in Illinois, according to its website. De Lucio said the company does work for districts like Plainfield, West Chicago and Indian Prairie D204.
And its primary goal is to transport students, she noted, unlike a taxi company. Staff for the service also have to go through the same background checks as a bus driver, according to De Lucio.
In talking with West Chicago and Plainfield about the services, De Lucio said there have been some “day-to-day deficiencies with timing” but noted that occurs with buses, too, and that the districts are, for the most part, happy with the service.
Under the contract, there would be no minimum on how many trips the company has to do, according to De Lucio, and its turnaround time and equipment are in line with what the district currently has.
The company’s rate is also slightly cheaper than what the district currently has, De Lucio said, and the rate would be brought down further if the district meets a threshold of more than 60 students being transported.
An attachment to the contract from the district shows a per-trip fee of $62 for the first seven miles a student is transported, with a fee of $2.50 for each additional mile beyond that. That initial rate is reduced to $60 when the district maintains 60 or more trips per day. There are also additional fees for things like the use of a camera system in a vehicle and the use of a wheelchair vehicle or a car seat, as well as policies related to no-shows and cancellation of trips.
The district’s idea is essentially to initiate a contract with EverDriven and do a test run working with the company before its next contract for alternative transportation services is due in two years, De Lucio said, so that the district can decide who it wants to work with for alternative transportation going forward.
The contract with EverDriven was ultimately approved by East Aurora’s school board in June. Per the contract, this agreement between the district and EverDriven will extend through July 31, 2027, or the last day of summer school, and can be extended for three additional one-year periods. Rates are set to be increased by 3% each year.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
