BUTLER TWP — The Butler School Board at the end of a special meeting Thursday night voted to have district officials negotiate a contract amendment with its busing contractor, Valley Lines.

The meeting was called by the board to consider options for actions on the contract after an independent analysis going back to 2008 claimed multiple violations.

“We want to work together. Everyone here is concerned with student safety,” said board vice president Jennifer Cummings, who made the motion that was approved by a 7-0 vote.

A report about Valley Lines’ contract compliance was made by staff members from the Armstrong Indiana Intermediate Unit at the board’s March 20 meeting.

A $650 contract with ARIN IU, which has transportation specialists who have performed similar audits for other districts, was approved by the board in December.

The report said that Valley Lines has had 109 buses on the road since 2008 that were more than 10 years old, which would be a violation of the terms of the contract. The contract requires buses to be no more than 10 years old, for safety and also because the district gets more transportation reimbursement each year if it has newer buses in use.

Options for action in the report included negotiating a contract amendment, voiding the contract or imposing $1.9 million in penalties, which was calculated using a formula included in the contract.

In a letter responding to the report, Valley Lines CEO William Clepper wrote that he would honor the findings and pay $65,604 in lost state subsidies. Clepper also proposed additional checks and balances to ensure compliance and stated that the company was looking into upgrading its bus cameras to provide better footage in the case of accidents or problems with drivers.

Acting Superintendent William Pettigrew, Director of Transportation Debby Croft and board member Al Vavro will meet with Valley Lines officials to craft a proposal to bring back to the school board.

Pettigrew said Thursday that attempts to find alternative busing contractors have been put on hold.

By authorizing Pettigrew and other officials to have discussions about a contract amendment, the board has not committed to any action on the contract and could still opt to void it, district solicitor Tom King said.

The issue of 11- or 12-year-old buses being in use came to light in September after a bus carrying students was involved in a crash on Bonniebrook Road in Summit Township.

The driver of the bus and four students were treated for injuries and the district learned that the bus that crashed was a 2004 model.

Clepper said Thursday that operations manager Bill Wehr will be a compliance officer in the future and that the company is willing to make more equipment reports and have regular meetings with school officials to ensure contract compliance.

“I have a great concern for the fleet. We will move on and guarantee that these ages will not happen again and we will have more checks and balances,” Clepper said.

School board president Nina Teff said that with violations going back to 2008, both Valley Lines and the district are partly to blame.

“I expect you to know that contract. I expect you to adhere to that contract,” she said. “We as a district need to do our job too.”

Board member Leland Clark Thursday questioned why bus driver Ted Codispot, who was cited by police for the accident on Bonniebrook Road, was allowed to return to his route briefly, before district officials requested that he be removed.

Clark said he would like to see a stricter policy or contract stipulation in place to deal with accidents.

“If the last three accidents were caused by driver error, I’d like to see safeguards in place to minimize that risk,” he said.

Based in South Buffalo Township, Armstrong County, Valley Lines has been the district’s busing contractor since 2004. The company employs about 175 drivers and uses 120 buses for the district, half of which run on compressed natural gas.

The district spends more than $6 million each year on transportation costs.

The public seating in the board’s meeting room was filled Thursday night and during the public comment part of the agenda, numerous Valley Lines bus drivers voiced their support for the company and Clepper.

Bill McNutt of Butler Township said that the company’s drivers put the buses through a detailed pre-trip inspection every day.

“I know his equipment is safe,” he said about Clepper.

Clarissa Boden of Butler, another driver, said that the company and its drivers worked with district officials to resolve the transportation difficulties that arose in 2015 under the district’s school consolidation plan.

“Valley Lines stuck with it made it work,” she said. “I’m very proud of this company.”