WALES — Waiting for a decision on the matter of RSU 4 bus routes?
Wait some more.
After an hour of behind-closed-doors discussion Wednesday night, the School Board promptly announced to the public that no vote would be taken on the issue. They tried to move on to the next agenda item, but the roomful of parents and bus drivers would have none of it.
“What happened to the vote?” demanded a woman at the back of the room.
Superintendent Jim Hodgkin said the board wishes to further consult with educational professionals before making its decision on whether to privatize routes. The murmurs from the public grew louder and angrier.
Hodgkin defended the decision to delay the vote.
“This is the body you elected to represent you,” Hodgkin told them. “These are your representatives and they are elected to make decisions.”
Whatever was discussed in executive session was not disclosed. Board members had met with a school attorney before returning to their seats and making quick work of the busing issue.
What followed was a mass exodus from the library at the Oak Hill Middle School in Sabattus. There had been roughly four dozen people waiting for the vote. When it didn’t come, at least half of the group filed out of the room, muttering as they went.
“What happened?” an older man asked in the hallway . “I thought there was going to be a vote.”
He wasn’t alone in his bewilderment. Leaving the school, several people voiced their unhappiness with the School Board, accusing them of delay tactics and other trickery.
“They’re just prolonging it,” Linda Dugay of Sabattus said. “They’re trying to get us tired. It’s time to vote them all out.”
Few would argue that the issue of privatizing the bus service has been tiring. In addition to the political wrangling, weather has forced the cancellation of two meetings on the matter, adding to the frustration.
Most thought the Wednesday night meeting would put an end to it one way or another.
“We all expected something to happen,” Dugay said. “They play games with us.”
The district is considering a bid from Northeast Charter to privatize services, eliminating 15 full-time bus drivers’ jobs and saving $194,000 a year. The first year that savings would be cut into by severance packages.
Last week, more than two dozen people spoke in favor of keeping the current bus drivers, in spite of the money that could be saved by privatizing. That has been the sentiment all along — in a nonbinding straw poll two years ago, residents in Litchfield, Wales and Sabattus voted 2-1 to keep the bus system as is.
“I love our bus drivers,” Carol Spencer of Sabattus said Wednesday night. “I like to know who my kids are with.”
Spencer and others said they know the present bus drivers personally. If the parents of school kids have problems, they can call the bus drivers directly to talk it over. The drivers also have their numbers, several parents said. They like it that way.
But there is also support for giving Northeast Charter the contract, particularly among people who would like to see their taxes go down. At a meeting last week, one man argued that a move that would save nearly $200,000 should not be dismissed based on pure emotion alone.
It was not immediately clear when the issue will next be addressed. After the brief brouhaha at the meeting Wednesday night, the School Board carried on with other business.
On their way out of the school and into the cold wind, several residents were still sputtering as they hustled to their cars.
“Frustrating,” Spencer said.
“Very disappointing,” said another woman.
One man declared the matter “disgusting” before digging his keys out and climbing into his truck.
None of them cared to hazard a guess on how it would turn out, although some thought recent trends pointed toward Northeast Charter getting the contract. The Auburn School Committee, for instance, voted last August to eliminate its transportation department positions, including 23 bus drivers, a mechanic and three bus aides.
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