PROPOSAL FOR BUS OWNERS STRICTER

County School System Wants Random Drug Testing, List of Drivers Each
Day

Prompted by a critical federal audit, the Knox County school system's
transportation department has proposed a stricter agreement with
school bus owners that would hold them more accountable.

The proposal, which the school board plans to vote on Wednesday,
would mean several changes for the 115 or so independent bus owners,
who contract with the district to transport students to and from school.

"I think this agreement more clearly defines expectations and is much
more organized," Rick Grubb, the district's supervisor of
transportation and zoning, said before the school board's nonvoting
meeting Monday. "Is it stricter? Yes."

For one, the new agreement for the 2006-07 school year would make all
bus owners subject to random drug and alcohol testing even if they
don't drive a bus. All drivers currently are subject to random
testing, Grubb said, but owners have been exempt if they simply own
their bus and have someone else drive it.

Peggy Claiborne, a representative on the Knox County bus contractors
association, said she had no gripes with the random testing rule.

"We're in 100 percent agreement," said Claiborne, who owns and drives
a bus.

The proposed agreement also would require bus owners to tell the
district's central office the name of the person driving their bus
each day. The school system does have an approved list of drivers,
but in the past, district officials had no idea who was driving each
bus on a given day unless they called the bus owner.

"I've never understood why we didn't know that" previously, Grubb
said, explaining that he strongly supports the proposed requirement.
"I think it is a layer of safety, and in the event we have an
accident, an allegation, we should know who's driving the vehicle.
It also allows us to know if there's a pattern of what occurs on the
bus based on who's driving."

Another change in the agreement would force bus owners to eliminate
any reference to "Knox County Schools" inside and outside their buses
when they are driving for private or commercial purposes, such as on
the weekend. Grubb said owners would have to permanently remove any
reference to Knox County, not simply cover it up.

"We can't have a bus hauling a UT frat to a football game having
'Knox County Schools' on it," Grubb said.

Steve Bean, a bus owner and driver and the chairman of the
contractors association, said he had no problem with that rule.

"We agree with that, too," he said. "We don't need any more bad
publicity."

Bean said he and other association members spent days negotiating the
proposed agreement with school officials, and most contractors he
knows feel comfortable with the rules.

"We've got six or eight or 10 contractors out there that Jesus Christ
couldn't please, so, yeah, there are some (provisions) that are going
to be controversial," he said.

The bus owners also could see more money under the new agreement - if
the school system receives more funding from the county as expected.
The agreement slates $217,000 to be shared among the owners.

The school board also plans to vote Wednesday to divide $65,000 among
the contractors to compensate them for high gas prices last school
year. According to Grubb, a contractor on average would receive about
$160 per bus.