Norwood School Board Rejects All Special Needs Busing Bids-August 21, 1980

With opening day just two weeks away, the Norwood School Committee voted 4-3 to reject all bids received the previous week for special needs student transportation. Acting under emergency procedures, the board announced it will call for new bids by Tuesday, with a potential contract award scheduled for Wednesday night. The rejected proposals came from Yellow Cab of Norwood (Bob’s Taxi), Sansone Motors of Norwood, Kiessling School Transportation of Walpole, and Commonwealth Coach of Medford.

Chairman William J. Pudsey stated that the board possesses the right to reject bids based on past performance, citing difficulties experienced during the prior year with two of the bidders. Yellow Cab of Norwood (Bob’s Taxi) had submitted the lowest bid on two of the three contracts, but some committee members maintained the firm reneged on an agreement with the town last year. Around that time, the owners of Yellow Cab of Norwood (Bob’s Taxi) informed the school department that rising gasoline costs prevented them from transporting special needs children without an increase in fees. However, no formal contract had been signed by both parties, as it had been the standard practice of the Norwood School Committee that the notification of a bid award served as the binding contract.

Following that dispute, Kiessling School Transportation of Dedham subsequently stepped in to transport those students. However, the firm backed out of the agreement in January and recently reneged on a five-year contract that still had three years remaining, necessitating the latest round of bidding. School committeeman Rudith Berkowitz expressed severe unease regarding the situation, refusing to vote on the contracts due to the history of the bidders backing out. Although the Kiessling School Transportation firm involved in the current bidding process is based in Walpole rather than Dedham, Chairman William J. Pudsey cited family connections between the two operations as the reason for rejecting their bid.

The issue is further complicated by an ongoing investigation by the Norwood Finance Commission into charges initiated by the owners of Yellow Cab of Norwood (Bob’s Taxi) last year. The allegations claim that Kiessling School Transportation of Dedham overcharged the town under a 1975-1978 contract. The attorney for the Norwood Finance Commission subsequently reported that overbillings could amount to as much as $60,000, and a formal audit is currently underway.

The disputed bids cover three separate contracts involving the transportation of 80 in-town children, 40 out-of-town children, and 8 children requiring wheelchair vans. The three-year contracts total approximately $145,000 for 180 school days. Yellow Cab of Norwood (Bob’s Taxi) was the low bidder for the in-town routes, bidding $63.40 per vehicle per day for a one-year contract and $41.20 per vehicle per day for a three-year contract, based on vehicles being utilized one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. Sansone Motors of Norwood was the only other bidder for the in-town routes, quoting $74 per vehicle per day for one year, $79 for two years, and $84 for three years, also based on two hours of daily usage.

For the out-of-town transportation contract, which requires driving children to 26 schools in surrounding municipalities, Yellow Cab of Norwood (Bob’s Taxi) was the sole bidder, submitting flat prices per run, including $10.88 to the Massachusetts Hospital School in Canton and $20.31 to Boston College. For the wheelchair van transportation contract, Kiessling School Transportation of Walpole bid $83 per vehicle per day, Commonwealth Coach of Medford bid $83.89, and Yellow Cab of Norwood (Bob’s Taxi) bid $95. The bid from Commonwealth Coach of Medford featured an addendum that would increase costs by one percent for every 3-cent increase in gasoline prices.

School committeeman Joseph Pentowski attempted to push the board to take action on the out-of-town and wheelchair contracts since the primary concerns centered on the in-town routes, emphasizing that the board needed to make a decision quickly. When the vote to reject all bids was called, Rudith Berkowitz, Joan Cuff, William Egan, and Richard Joseph voted in favor of rejection, while William J. Pudsey, Joseph Pentowski, and Charles Saraca voted in the minority. School committeeman Richard Joseph requested the presence of town counsel for the next session due to the past performance of the bidders, noting that the board did not yet know the specific runs or the exact number of vehicles required.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger