Troubled bus system on the mend, officials say School district attempts to right many wrongs found in independent audit BY DANIELLE MEDINA Correspondent Brick Township BRICK TOWNSHIP - One-third of the 60 recommendations made by an auditing firm that reviewed the school district's bus transportation system have been completed, school officials said last week. "We have a lot of work to do, but in the last 18 days we've done the stuff we can do right away," Transportation Coordinator Joseph Sangiovanni said at the Board of Education meeting on May 29. "I think morale is a lot better and there is more discipline and organization." Interim Business Administrator Melindo A. Persi said the staff and the board reviewed the comments made in the audit, which was prepared by Transportation Advisory Services (TAS), a Walworth, N.Y.-based firm. "We're making satisfactory progress," Persi said. TAS issued a scathing report on March 24 that found serious deficiencies in nearly every transportation department operation. The deficiencies were so great that TAS said it did not believe the district would be able to come up with a suitable remedial plan and recommended privatizing some or all of the district's school bus services. The audit detailed problems with financial oversight, improper use of assets, unauthorized bus stops, bus drivers paid full-time wages for less than full-time hours, and an understaffed bus maintenance department. Board of Education members hired TAS in November to conduct a full-scale audit of the department after they received numerous complaints from parents at the start of the year. Parents complained about the lack of steady drivers, an unresponsive transportation department, and buses that arrived late to school. The district should have alternate routes for the coming school year by the end of the month, thanks to a newly purchased routing program that utilizes global information system technology, Persi said at the meeting. Although the district is studying changing the number of bus stops, school opening and closing times and traffic patterns, the task of moving students around the town is a daunting one, Persi said. "In the morning, we have three hours to get 13,000 kids where they belong, and an hour and a half in the afternoon to do the same," Persi said. The district will also have 17 new buses on the road in the coming school year, Persi said. TAS also found that the district's bus facility is inadequate for the size of the district and is poorly ventilated. "At one time, when we had 15 buses, that facility was adequate," Persi said. Currently, the district has 190 vehicles in operation - 137 school buses and 53 other vehicles, he said. The school board also unanimously approved the transfer of William Nardiello, the former head of the transportation department, to a position as the assistant supervisor of custodians, effective June 1. Sangiovanni took over the top job in the department on May 1 and has been working with Nardiello, who held the job since August 2005. A draft copy of the audit was released on March 24, and the official report was released a few weeks later. School officials said they were preparing an action plan for each of the audit's recommendations before they released it to the public. "I think the bus drivers have gotten a bad rap," Persi said. "They are dedicated, hard-working individuals who go the extra mile." One of the audit's key findings was that there were no structural financial controls for purchasing, with proper authorizations and bid/quotes. Also, there were no internal audit functions in place for payroll, purchasing, paycheck dispersal and attendance. The audit also stated that the department supervisor approved time sheets that were "inaccurate and potentially fraudulent."