The recent financial difficulties experienced by the East End Bus Lines company will not impact the firm’s bus service for the Valley Central and Wallkill school districts, according to East End owner John Mensch. On Sept. 13, East End filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in United States Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of New York. The Medford-based company agreed to a joint five-year bus contract with both local districts in January 2017. After giving a presentation to the Valley Central Board of Education about the bus service in the district so far this fall, Mensch said in an interview that the bankruptcy petition only pertains to East End’s Long Island operations. “That’s not for up here,” Mensch said of the bankruptcy filing. “That’s for Long Island.” When asked if the bankruptcy could potentially imperil local service, Mensch replied no.

At the end of the school board meeting last Monday, the board unanimously passed a resolution to transfer the district’s bus contract to Orange County Transit LLC, the East End offshoot that was established in June 2017 to handle local operations. “East End has requested that Valley Central assign, transfer and convey all of its rights, obligations and duties under such transportation agreements to Orange County Transit LLC, and whereas, Valley Central’s Board of Education determines it to be in its best financial interest to consent to said assignment from East End to Orange County Transit,” the resolution reads. Valley Central does not expect East End’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy to affect the company’s bus service within the district. “We don’t have any reason to believe it will,” Assistant Superintendent Michael Bellarosa said.

The resolution separates the district’s contract from East End’s Long Island business. “I think what he (Mensch) wants to do is what is connected to Valley Central, he wants that just to be Valley Central,” Bellarosa said. “He doesn’t want whatever is connected to Long Island to be connected to Valley Central.” Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows companies to reorganize and negotiate with their creditors. East End’s bankruptcy petition lists estimated liabilities in the range of $10 million to $50 million, with estimated assets of zero dollars to $50,000. During his presentation to the board, Mensch informed the council that the company’s bus service has run a lot smoother so far this school year, in contrast to the prolonged delays experienced last fall. “It’s a lot better this year than last year,” Mensch told the board. “We’re still dealing with the nation’s driver shortage. We have two Valley Central employees in training now to get their license. They work for the district during the day, then they’ll be driving in the afternoon. They’re very interested in taking care of sports trips, so they’ll be taking their road tests in early October.”

Mensch explained that a number of factors have allowed the company to tighten up its bus runs this year. “We have more drivers, better data information and we worked closely with the school district with the schedule,” he said. “So that’s why it’s better this year. All of those three together helped.” East End was in the headlines in Long Island earlier this month when a contract dispute with the William Floyd School District left the Brookhaven district scrambling to find bus transportation for its 9,000 students at the beginning of the school year.

The Suffolk County district contends that East End attempted to renegotiate its contract with the district two years into a five-year agreement, leading the district to declare that East End had defaulted on its contract, which was subsequently rebid to outside firms. “Our former transportation provider, East End Bus Lines, signed a five-year contract beginning in the 2016 to 2017 school year,” the William Floyd School District declared in a public statement. “The owner twice demanded additional money under threat of cessation of services. As good stewards of the community’s resources and because it is against the law, the William Floyd School District emphatically said ‘no.’”

According to the district, the situation deteriorated from there. “On the third occasion in July, 2018, the owner of East End Bus Lines demanded an additional $16.5 million over the remaining three years of the contract — $5.5 million per year — or else he would not fulfill his duties per the contract.” The district then rebid the contract and awarded the bid to Acme/Baumann.

The Long Island district then struck a last-minute deal with the First Student bus company to provide transportation for its students in time for the second day of school after Acme/Baumann could not reach an agreement with former East End bus drivers. “By now, we all know that we are in this predicament due to the actions of East End Bus Lines demanding an additional $16.5 million of taxpayer money,” William Floyd School District Superintendent Kevin Coster wrote in a message to parents at the start of the school year.