PETITION TO THE MATANUSKA-SUSITNA BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION AND SUPERINTENDENT

Hold Durham School Services Accountable, Address Early Start Dates, and Secure Reliable School Bus Service

We, the undersigned parents and guardians of students in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, formally request that the School Board and Superintendent take strong, immediate action regarding Durham School Services and the district’s school calendar decisions that have worsened transportation problems.

The Problems

Since the start of the 2026–27 school year, Mat-Su families have faced repeated and unacceptable failures in school bus service provided by Durham School Services, including:

•  Dozens to over 100 canceled bus routes in the first weeks of school

•  Hundreds of late arrivals

•  Insufficient drivers and backup drivers, forcing parents to scramble for last-minute transportation

•  Ongoing disruption to students’ education and family schedules

These service failures are compounded by the School Board’s decision to set an early start date for the school year. Starting school while the tourist season is still active has made it significantly harder for Durham (and any contractor) to recruit and retain enough drivers, because many potential drivers can earn higher pay in tourism-related jobs during that period. The early calendar has therefore contributed directly to the staffing shortages and route cancellations that have harmed families.

Reliable school transportation is essential for student attendance, safety, and academic success. Parents should not have to rearrange work schedules or miss work because of both contractor failures and calendar decisions that ignore transportation realities.

Our Requests

We respectfully urge the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District Board of Education and Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani to:

1.  Fully enforce all performance standards and penalty provisions in the current contract with Durham School Services, including assessing the maximum allowable liquidated damages for every late or canceled route.

2.  Publicly report Durham’s performance data (cancellations, late runs, driver staffing levels) on a regular basis so families have transparency.

3.  Explore and pursue every available contractual option to terminate, non-renew, or significantly reduce Durham’s role at the earliest opportunity.

4.  Begin preparing a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) process so the district can seek a more reliable transportation provider when the current contract allows.

5.  Review and adjust future school calendars so that the start of the school year better accounts for local labor-market realities (including the end of the tourist season) and the district’s ability to provide consistent bus service. Early start dates that undermine transportation reliability must be addressed.

6. Publicly disclose and review Superintendent performance incentive compensation. Provide the public with an accounting of any performance bonuses or incentive compensation paid to the Superintendent during the period in which these transportation failures occurred, including the performance goals and evaluations supporting those payments. The School Board should review whether all such compensation was earned under the applicable contract and, where legally authorized, seek repayment or withhold future incentive compensation associated with performance standards that were not met.

Durham holds a long-term contract valued at well over $180 million. Taxpayers and families deserve both a contractor that can deliver consistent service and a school calendar that does not make reliable transportation harder to achieve. Continued failures should not be accepted as the “new normal.”

We call on the Mat-Su Borough School Board and Superintendent to put students first by holding the contractor accountable and fixing calendar decisions that contribute to these problems.