This is one of those times. This issue over who should transport 60,000 Duval County students to school next year has erupted into a contest between community tradition and cold practicality. Local contractors, working class folk who have invested more than 50 years in the yellow bus business, claim they were at a disadvantage when it came to competing against well-heeled, national companies, and that their dedication ought to count for something. Superintendent John Fryer says that's not his problem. Caught between convenience and conscience is, of course, the School Board.
Board members have good reason to be concerned.
Suggestions abound that there were problems, although not necessarily illegalities, in the way the bids were ultimately awarded. Art Shad, a member of the committee that evaluated the bid proposals, said the whole process was rushed. For example, he said, the 11 bid proposals that the committee was supposed to receive on a Friday were given to them on the following Tuesday. That meant committee members had barely two days to read them before listening to the presentations and evaluating the bids. Each proposal, Shad said, was at least 100-pages long.