May 2, 2007 By Rebekah Sungala 2 min read

For the second time in two weeks, officials with the Uniontown Area School District squashed rumors that the school board is looking to find new transportation contractors. Dr. Charles Machesky, district superintendent, said Tuesday the district plans to renegotiate contracts with the six contractors already working with the district.

According to Machesky, the school board could award contracts as early as this month.

He said contracts definitely would be awarded by June, if not before, when the existing contracts expire.

Machesky said the district would like to award five-year contracts to the bus companies currently retained by the district, noting that contractors have been working on a one-year extension of contracts that expired in June 2006.

“Neither myself or any of the board members have met with new companies,” he said.

Having received several calls from current bus drivers concerned they may be losing their jobs, Machesky said he wants people to know the rumor, which he said has been circulating for about three weeks, is false.

“I just want to put people at ease,” he said.

At a special meeting Thursday, board member Dorothy Grahek spoke about the rumor, saying she hoped to quell the bus drivers’ anxiety over losing their jobs. She said then that the school board had not met with any new bus companies and said she and her fellow board members were content with current contractors.