Cape schools negotiate reduction in contract with Robinson Transport for buses

After more than a month without schools in session or school buses on roads, the Cape Girardeau School District is negotiating a reduced payment to Robinson Transport, the contractor for the district’s bus fleet.

At its socially-distant meeting Monday, the Cape Girardeau School Board discussed the negotiations, which superintendent Neil Glass called a “win-win” for the district and its contractor. The meeting was closed to the public “as a result of the governor’s mandates regarding COVID-19,” said board president Jeff Glenn, but was livestreamed on the district’s Facebook page. 

The school district will pay 48% of its existing contract with Robinson, Glass said. It will also pay the same rate for school transportation services for the 2020-2021 school year it paid this academic year. 

Traditionally, the transportation contract extensions carry a 3% increase from one year to the next, Glass said. But in negotiations, he said the company agreed to take a flat fee for the next school year. 

The savings, according to information provided by district communications director Kristin Tallent, would be more than $35,000 over the course of the year. 

“I feel very good about Robinson Transport as a company,” Glass said. “They’ve been great to work with. ... I felt like they’ve negotiated, we’ve negotiated and came to a compromise, and it’s a win for everybody.”

After a short discussion Monday, school board members unanimously voted to authorize Glass to negotiate and execute a one-year extension of the contract with Robinson.

The district first began contracting Robinson Transport in 2015 after experiencing breakdowns, according to Southeast Missourian reporting. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company furloughed all of its drivers in the Cape Girardeau School District and manager Tara Bowers said Wednesday the virus had essentially shut down the company’s operation. No buses are running at this time, she said. 

“All of our drivers are actually out on unemployment,” Bowers said. “They are not working.”

The company has 25 route drivers, two full-time substitute drivers and two part-time substitute drivers, Bowers said. 

“So you’re looking [at] about 30 drivers and then we’ve got two office staff and one mechanic,” she said. 

According to its website, Robinson is a family-owned company established in 2000, with seven contracts in Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri. It is based in Harrisburg, Illinois. 

According to the Cape Girardeau School District’s website, the district’s transportation department travels 3,822 miles and transports more than 3,000 students per day with more than 1,800 bus stops. 

“From what we are told, the school is supposed to return in August,” Bowers said, “and so then we will have all our drivers back to working their regularly scheduled hours.”

For more information, visit the district’s website at www.capetigers.com or call Robinson Transport at (855) 527-6171.