Due to the fact that the Manhasset Public Schools Board of Education and its interim administration have chosen to privatize the transportation department I am forced to write this letter.

I am in complete disagreement with all aspects of their decision to outsource your child's transportation after 50+ years of dedicated service to this community. Both Dr. Austin Gavin and Rosemary Johnson have (perhaps not knowingly) inflated the costs of running this department for years to come in order to attain the board's agenda. They and the BOE can stand behind these figures all they want but I know and so do many others in Manhasset that the savings are meager at best. The decision to dismantle the bus garage was made long before Mr. Gavin and Mrs. Johnson were given their per diem employment at Manhasset and I am truly amazed that five school board members, all of whose children have ridden on these buses, could even fathom the idea of comparing the quality of Manhasset bus drivers to the situations that have arisen because of contracted busing, in the name of savings.

Furthermore, the selling of Manhasset's fleet of 40 buses for $311,000 is more appalling to me. Some of these buses have been antiquated to a degree, but most are very reliable and along with the drivers and mechanics, have been transporting your children to school in a very safe, timely and most important - trustworthy environment. This fleet of buses could easily have been replaced over a number of years, not at $1 million or more per year, as stated by Ms. Johnson but in a cost effective supplemental way - one bus at a time. Unfortunately, now there is no looking back, the buses and the personnel who were part of the Manhasset Public Schools are gone. The school district is left with the private contractors, who, over the coming years, are free to raise their rates and go on strike when and whereever it suits their needs. The consequences remain to be seen.

I have been a bus driver in this district for the last 15 years and have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I have made many friends and acquaintances within this fine community of Manhasset and will never forget how well this community has treated me. The district can take away our jobs, paychecks and benefits, but they can't touch our memories of transporting your children to and from school each day.

Thanks for the memories!

Ronnie Henderson

Proud Ex Bus Driver of Manhasset School Children