Newly released documents from Kansas City Public Schools show administrators simply had no other choice than to hire Daye Transportation to cover problematic routes.
Just days into the new school year last month, new Superintendent Mark Bedell expressed his frustration with Daye Transportation. It came after dozens of students were left at bus stops the first few days of school on routes Daye was supposed to cover.
"If I appear to be upset now, it's because I am," Bedell said August 19. "I'm not hiding that from anybody because I'm a parent in this school system, too."
Shortly after Bedell's statement last month, a surprise inspection by Missouri's Highway Patrol resulted in eight of Daye's school buses being taken out of service for serious safety violations.
KCPS then terminated Daye's contract.
"We have to make sure that we're doing our part to ensure that whoever we do business with that we vet them clearly," Bedell said last month.
KCPS documents the 41 Action News Investigators exclusively obtained show Daye's selection began with an informational form to provide after school tutoring transportation only two days a week.
KCPS reps signed the same form on the same day in March, also seeking quotes from Durham School Services and Apple Bus.
But Durham and Apple reps told the 41 Action News Investigators they weren't interested in a KCPS contract.
Durham's Ronna Blocker said the company agreed to submit the form for rare fill-in work or field trips only and couldn't do any regular routes.
April's KCPS form recommending Daye states other approved vendors were considered, but were not able to absorb the designated routes.
Acting Superintendent Al Tunis signed Daye's contract June 1, one month before Bedell's first day as superintendent.
"As frustrated as I am with Daye, I also have to look at us as a school system and say what could we have done differently," Bedell said last month.
So far, district leaders haven't commented on the newly released documents.
The 41 Action News Investigators did learn the woman listed as the contact for the three bus companies involved in the negotiation no longer works for KCPS.
The 41 Action News Investigators are trying to find out why she left.
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Andy Alcock can be reached at anderson.alcock@kshb.com.
