Marlborough School Committee Accepts $661,061 State Grant, Moves to Rebid Four Bus Routes

MARLBOROUGH -- November 28, 2023, Marlborough School Committee honors high-achieving students and advances a bus-route dispute with transportation vendor NRT. At the November 28 meeting, Business Director LeFleur reported that the district met with NRT representatives on November 21 with legal counsel after the vendor failed to consistently staff at least four bus routes, and that a formal contract-amendment proposal was sent November 22. An invitation for bids from a replacement vendor covering a minimum of four routes is set to go out December 6. LeFleur said the existing contract requires NRT to cover any cost increase from a substitute provider: "Our costs should be exactly the same." The committee also voted unanimously to accept a Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education grant of $661,061, heard that the Goodnow School building has been designated a model school by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, and received a food-service update showing district-wide lunch participation at 67 percent, with two facilities already exceeding the 75 percent target. More than 50 MHS seniors were named John and Abigail Adams Scholarship recipients, and individual honors went to students Raya Kenderia, Luis Gustavo Bernardes, Violet Wren, and Alexis Ott.