Blythewood Online 691

Tag: FCSD

  • FCSD sues bus company

    WINNSBORO – It was supposed to be a lifetime opportunity for 47 Fairfield County BETA Club students.

    Instead, recurring mechanical issues and frequent stops turned the road trip to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma into a nightmare.

    Now the Fairfield County School District is suing, accusing the bus company of “contract breaches and misrepresentations,” and also claiming the company is responsible for nearly $10,500 in additional costs the district says it incurred.

    Filed March 18, the suit names Brooks Cavaliers; Brooks Transit Charter Service, Inc.; John Brooks; Inga Brooks; Charles Brooks; and Charles Black as defendants.

    The litigation seeks actual and punitive damages, damages in accordance with the S.C. Unfair Trade Practices Act, and legal fees and expenses. A deadline of October 14 has been set to complete mediation.

    Brooks Cavaliers had not filed a response as of press time, according to the Fairfield County Public Index.

    A representative of Brooks Cavaliers said the company has responded to the suit, but he did not comment further and the call ended.

    Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green and board chairman William Frick also couldn’t be reached.

    Deputy Superintendent Dr. Claudia Avery signed the initial contract with Brooks Transit on March 29, 2019, according to documents filed with the suit.

    At the April 9, 2019 board meeting, the district’s Board of Trustees approved the Oklahoma excursion as a field trip request at a cost of $45,024.60. The purpose of the trip was so students in grades 4-8 could travel to the National Beta Club Convention “to compete in various academic competitions and present their visual artwork and projects,” district financial documents state.

    Invoices filed with the lawsuit state the district spent an additional $8,212 to charter with a second bus company to complete the trip after the original bus broke down, stranding students and chaperones.

    The district spent $2,267.47 more in additional hotel room costs, driving the total cost of the trip to at least $55,504.07. Forty-seven students and 14 chaperones went on the trip.

    According to the lawsuit, the Brooks Cavaliers buses stopped virtually every hour the first night of the trip, sometimes for drivers to take restroom breaks or to sleep; other times for various mechanical problems.

    “The drivers did not offer any explanation for many of the unscheduled stops and, when asked, spoke in a very rude manner to the chaperones of the trip,” the suit states. “Many of the stops occurred on the side of the highway for a lengthy amount of time, creating risks of accidents.”

    At one point, a bus leaked oil on the property of a hotel, which complained about the leak. Mechanical problems persisted in Oklahoma and on the return trip, including at a truck stop in Oklahoma, where students and chaperones were marooned for five hours, according to the suit.

    “After a lengthy wait, one of the chaperones telephoned a school district administrator to report the ongoing concerns and the fact that they had been stranded at a truck stop in Oklahoma for several hours,” the suit stated. “District administration attempted to contact Brooks Cavaliers unsuccessfully to try to resolve this issue. The District administrator eventually reached Ms. Inga Brooks and explained the seriousness of the matter.”

    It was at this point, the suit continues, that the district hired a second charter bus company to drive everyone home.

  • School board OKs $2.3M bond

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County School District leaders are borrowing another $2.3 million.

    At its July 16 meeting, the district’s board of trustees voted to issue a one-year general obligation bond totaling $2.3 million to finance various school building projects. The vote was unanimous.

    At the July 16 meeting, Kevin Robinson, the district’s finance director, said debt millage would remain at 20.6 mills, the same as last year, which wouldn’t result in any tax increases for residents.

    Robinson said the district requested the $2.3 million bond issue even though it has a surplus that exceeds $2 million. The surplus, he said, is being set aside to fund employee bonuses that were approved earlier this year.

    “So it’s to maintain a good cash flow,” Frick said at the meeting. “What we don’t want to do is budget these out of our surplus funds and something unexpected happens.”

    Bond money will help cover $600,000 in heating and air equipment at Fairfield Central, and also at Geiger, McCrorey Liston and Fairfield elementary schools. It also includes floor tile, carpets, signage and awning improvements at those elementary schools, as well as Fairfield Magnet and Kelly Miller Elementary. Another $50,000 in paving is included at Gordon Odyssey, Geiger Elementary and Fairfield Elementary.

    The bond covers several district wide projects as well:

    • $500,000 — Roof Recoating, Roof Repair Work
    • $300,000 — Computer, Chromebook, Servers, & Clear Touch Panel Replacement
    • $200,000 — Security cameras and door access hardware
    • $200,000 — Reconfigure to control hallway access to classrooms from front door

  • Hartman’s questions unanswered by Frick, Green

    WINNSBORO – After praising the Fairfield School District Honors Chorus’ recent trip to Italy, school officials couldn’t answer questions about how much the trip cost, how many people actually went or questions about funding.

    At Tuesday night’s board meeting, when pressed by board trustee Paula Hartman for participation and cost figures, Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green couldn’t specifically say.

    “It was less than 20 [students], Ms. Hartman. Apparently some were not able to make the trip,” Green said. “I won’t say definitively. I can’t remember what it wound up being, but it was less than 20. I would have to check to say for sure.”

    “And how many adults?” Hartman asked.

    “I couldn’t say for sure either,“ Green answered.

    Hartman then questioned the cost.

    “What was the total that the district paid for the trip?“

    “I couldn’t recall that off the top of my head, Ms. Hartman,“ Green replied.

    In January, the Fairfield County Board of Trustees called a special meeting where they voted to pledge $30,000 in taxpayer money toward a $35,000 down payment for the trip.

    In January, school officials said the $30,000 expenditure was necessary to meet a time-sensitive booking deadline. A school district memo estimated the trip would cost $129,000, with about 30 people attending at a cost of $4,300 per person.

    Green said in January that students would “contribute the vast amount of the cost” by fundraising. An exact breakdown of public versus private funding for the Italy trip was not available late Tuesday.

    Things turned heated when Hartman asked if some district students had been involved in cheating on an exam. Green and several board members pushed back on Hartman’s question, without offering an outright denial.

    “I’m not even going to address that,” Green said. “The fact that you cast that kind of aspersion, whether it’s a student in the STEM program, honors program or a student in a general program, I think is totally inappropriate.”

    Board Chairman William Frick chided Hartman for raising the issue in public because he thought it should have been discussed privately with the superintendent. He also suggested Hartman was opening herself to litigation.

    “Ms. Hartman, I would caution you to not bring up rumors that you heard on the street at a board meeting,” Frick said. “You are libeling a group of people and I would caution you to be careful about that.”

    Hartman defended raising the issue, saying she thought the board should be informed if student cheating was taking place.

    The discussion continued for a few more minutes, ending with Frick slamming his gavel on the dais and ruling Hartman out of order.