Huntington Coach

Lots going on. We hope you and your families are well. As I’m sure you have heard, the Governor has closed all schools in New York for the remainder of the school year. So now we turn our focus to the summer. Our camps are operating on the assumption that they will be opening for the summer season. Our School Districts are likewise expecting to provide transportation for their Special Education students as normal. We intend to be ready to meet all of our customer’s needs.... There are reports that Baumann Bus company has gone out of business. We feel for those who may be displaced by a closing of that magnitude, and many Districts will now be searching for a new contractor. As in every industry, the best organized, most prepared and willing to put in the effort to continue, will survive. As you know, we all at Huntington Coach make that effort every day, and always have. We have been working hard behind the scenes to keep our operation in the necessary state of readiness, and we look forward to welcoming you all back to work as soon as possible to safely transport our children as we have for the past 93 years. The Personnel and Human Resource departments have been reaching out to many of you via email to keep much of your 19A and health insurance requirements up to date, so please watch for emails and respond as necessary to avoid any lapses of qualifications or other paperwork issues. Also, a new State law requires us to send a Record of Employment form for use when applying for any future unemployment claims. There is no change to the existing system. Drivers and Driver Assistants who have been laid off will receive the form via email or US Mail. Stay safe and healthy.

We continue to reach out to all of you regularly by telephone, and it’s good to report that our family of coworkers by and large have been weathering this storm well. It’s been cautiously encouraging to watch New York and Long Island’s numbers slowly edge downward the last few weeks. Hopefully the trend continues. It’s hard for us to update you on the status of schools for September with any consistency at this time, as everything keeps changing, literally from day to day. At... this point, schools are in the process of submitting their re-opening plans to the Governor. On August 7, he will announce his decision as to whether schools will start as scheduled, or if distance learning will be the only option. Most if not all of our Districts are planning on reopening with regular school times, but alternating A and B days, with reduced loads. Of course, all of this is subject to change between now and then. We are taking this opportunity to get our Safety Refreshers in early, during the week of August 3-7, to give us more time to prepare. Also, we are scheduling more classes, in order to maintain 6 foot spacing in the classrooms. Face coverings will be mandatory for class. You will be contacted by the office with your scheduled date and time. If you have not spoken to the office by this Friday afternoon (7/24), please call in for information, and please make it to your scheduled class, as rescheduling is not as easy as it would be normally. We’ll post more as we know more. Stay safe and be well

Lots going on. We hope you and your families are well. As I’m sure you have heard, the Governor has closed all schools in New York for the remainder of the school year. So now we turn our focus to the summer. Our camps are operating on the assumption that they will be opening for the summer season. Our School Districts are likewise expecting to provide transportation for their Special Education students as normal. We intend to be ready to meet all of our customer’s needs.... There are reports that Baumann Bus company has gone out of business. We feel for those who may be displaced by a closing of that magnitude, and many Districts will now be searching for a new contractor. As in every industry, the best organized, most prepared and willing to put in the effort to continue, will survive. As you know, we all at Huntington Coach make that effort every day, and always have. We have been working hard behind the scenes to keep our operation in the necessary state of readiness, and we look forward to welcoming you all back to work as soon as possible to safely transport our children as we have for the past 93 years. The Personnel and Human Resource departments have been reaching out to many of you via email to keep much of your 19A and health insurance requirements up to date, so please watch for emails and respond as necessary to avoid any lapses of qualifications or other paperwork issues. Also, a new State law requires us to send a Record of Employment form for use when applying for any future unemployment claims. There is no change to the existing system. Drivers and Driver Assistants who have been laid off will receive the form via email or US Mail. Stay safe and healthy.

This week, the Governor has announced that schools will remain closed through May 15. We have had some discussions with our Districts regarding the possibility of utilizing some of our drivers and vehicles for delivering school related materials to their students. If you are interested in being included in this work, please let your office know. Again this week (April 13-17), Drivers and Driver Assistants will continue to retain their eligibility for Unemployment insurance a...nd the Federal CARES payments. We are pleased to inform you that the Company has made the decision that, for Drivers and Driver Assistants who are on the Company provided Health Insurance, your coverage will continue to remain in place through June 30, 2020, regardless of whether the schools reopen. You will still be responsible for the portion of the premium that is normally deducted from your paycheck, while the Company continues to contribute its portion. Human Resources will be reaching out to you soon with your payment details, so again, please make sure we have accurate contact information to avoid a lapse in coverage (Email and Cell Phone). Finally, all Company provided Life Insurance will remain in place, paid for by the Company, through June 30, 2020. We hope all this helps you to get through this difficult time, and when this ends, and it WILL end, we very much look forward to seeing every one of you again. We will keep posting any new information that becomes available. Thank you all so much for your patience as we work through this turbulent and unprecedented situation. Stay safe and stay healthy.

Sorry for the delay in posts, but we have been very busy trying to get answers. The Districts and State Education Department have still not received any direction from the Governor, so all decisions are still day to day. All Drivers and Driver Assistants should continue to claim unemployment insurance for the week of April 6-10, as they have been. The Personnel department has begun emailing employees regarding certain 19A paperwork. Be sure we have your email address, and kee...p an eye on your inbox for messages. Please, stay safe and healthy.

All our facilities will be closed tomorrow (Friday, 4/3), and will reopen Monday, between the hours of 6am and 11am, and 11:30am and 4:30pm. If you are going to Medi Center for any reason, including physical exams, you are advised to call first for guidance on when to come in. On a conference call today, the State Education Department once again declined to provide any guidance for School Districts for payment during this closing. As a result, we are advising Drivers and Dri...ver Assistants to file for unemployment insurance for this week (3/30-4/3). For employees on the Company Health Insurance plans, your coverage remains in place at this time. We will have more information for you on that next week.

Med Station in Glen Cove has ceased doing regular Physical Exams through the end of April. The Medi-Center facilities in Huntington and Northport are still providing Physical Exams at this time. The Governor or State Education Department still have not released any guidance for the Districts regarding paying contractors at the time of this post. We appreciate your patience. If we get any new news tomorrow, we will post it as early as we can, so check back here during the day. Stay safe and Healthy.

As you may have already heard, the Governor has extended the mandatory school closing through April 15. We had hoped that we would have more guidance from the State by this afternoon in order to return to paying our employees, but unfortunately, there has still been no final decision from the Governor or State Education Department on this. The State will eventually have to provide written guidance to make those important decisions. We are therefore advising all eligible Drive...rs and Driver Assistants to continue to claim unemployment for this week (3/23-3/27). We will continue to keep you posted on news as it comes. Stay Safe and Healthy this weekend. We will talk to you soon.

Update for today: 1. DISTRICT PAYMENTS TO CONTRACTORS The discussion of payment of contractors is now on the forefront of the agenda of the State Education Department and Local School Districts. There are a number of varied opinions on the subject, from District to District. We feel the State Education Department has the ability to consolidate the state in one direction, but they have yet to do so. We are still working diligently on this, and will keep you updated as we get m...ore information. 2. 19A REQUIREMENTS As we continue on, our business obligations continue as well, including our 19A paperwork. The DMV has delayed enforcement of certain paperwork regulations. However, as you can imagine, if we just let months go by without maintaining this information, when we return to work we will be faced with a MASSIVE task to bring our mandated paperwork back into compliance. Some of this paperwork can be done remotely, such as your Annual Review of Driving record, the collection of diabetes notes, etc. Therefore, we are going to begin reaching out to employees by Email and telephone to work with you to keep your file in compliance remotely, to the extent possible. To update your contact information, please send an email to [email protected]. In the body of the email, please give your full name, your yard, your Email address and cell number to reach you. 3. VACATION CHECKS Vacation checks for those wo are receiving them for the week ending Sunday, March 22 will be available between 9am and 11am, and between 11:30am and 4:30pm in the yards tomorrow, (Friday, March 27) for those employees who do not have direct deposit. We ask you PLEASE, DO NOT come to the yard for any other reason. If you have anything you need to discuss with Management, please call your yard office by telephone. Again, Social Distancing rules are in place for everyone’s safety. Please pick up your check and leave the facility immediately. We are trying to avoid any unnecessary contact, so please keep a safe distance from others, and keep interpersonal contact and discussion to a minimum, including in the parking lots. Thank You. Stay Safe and Healthy

Nothing new to report today. We remain in communication daily with our National and State associations, as well as the State Education Department and DMV, and will update you with any new developments. Stay Safe and Healthy

There has still been no final decision from State Education or the other involved agencies regarding payment of school bus contractors, but they are actively working on it. A couple of updates; In an effort to continue to step up social distancing, the offices will be working in split shifts. PLEASE do NOT come in to the offices or yards, instead, call by telephone. Calls will be taken between the hours of 6am and 11am, and 11:30am and 4:30pm. No calls will be taken, however..., between 11:00 and 11:30 each day. We have received guidance from DMV that all drivers licenses and Learner’s Permits, including CDLs, with an expiration date of March 1, 2020 or later will be extended during the state of emergency (currently officially through June 30, 2020). Also, DMV will temporarily stop the process of downgrading CDLs due to expiring Medical Certifications until further notice. The downgrade process will resume after the state of emergency is lifted and normal processing may occur. More news to come. Stay Safe and Healthy.

Good afternoon everyone, We hope you and your families are all doing well. We know everyone continues to be worried about this closure, and how it will affect all of us financially. As we said in our last message, day by day, decisions are being considered on a National, State and Local level that will ultimately affect whether we continue to be paid by our Districts. Sunday’s unfortunate rejection of the Senate stimulus bill may delay those decisions further. We continue to... push hard with our State and National Associations to get our message to Congress and the State Education Department. At this point, the good news is, the answer is not No, the answer is that they are working on it. As such, we have nothing new to report today, but we intend to post an update here for you every day, even if we have no news to report. Stay safe and healthy. More tomorrow.

PAYMENT FOR WEEK OF MARCH 16-20: IMPORTANT NOTICE: As we all know, the Governor has closed all schools in the State through April 1. We at Huntington Coach have decided to handle this week, March 16-20, as the yearly Easter Break layoff period, similarly to what many Districts are doing with their own school schedules. Our eligible employees who chose April 16-20 as a Vacation week this year will receive their vacation check next Friday, March 27, just as they would have if... this week was the Easter Break. Employees NOT receiving vacation pay may file for unemployment for this layoff week, just as they would have during the scheduled break. We believe this is the least disruptive way to handle this week. IF YOU WILL BE RECEIVING A VACATION CHECK AND HAVE ALREADY FILED FOR UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE for this week, March 16-20: You should call the Telephone Claims Center at (888) 209-8124 to notify them of the mistake. Or, you can send a secure message from your online account. Sign in to your account at www.labor.ny.gov/signin and click on the envelope icon at the upper right corner of the My Online Services page. If you notify them now, we believe you should not have a problem. PAYMENT FOR WEEK OF MARCH 23-27: We have been, and will continue to work with the State and our Districts to try to get definitive answers regarding whether they will continue to pay bus companies during this ongoing school closing. Next week, we hope to have a clearer picture, and as soon as we have more information for you, we will let you know. Continue monitoring this page for more information Daily. Stay safe and healthy.

To All Drivers and Driver Assistants: Checks for the week ending March 15 will be available in the yards tomorrow, (Friday, March 20) for those employees who do not have direct deposit. We ask you please, DO NOT come to the yard for any other reason. If you have anything you need to discuss with Management, please call your yard office by telephone. Social Distancing rules are in place for everyone’s safety. Please pick up your check and leave the facility immediately. We are trying to avoid any unnecessary contact, so please keep a safe distance from others, and keep interpersonal contact and discussion to a minimum, including in the parking lots. Check back here often, as more information will follow. Thank you. Stay safe and healthy