MPS spent $1.25 million on 20 new vans. More than a year later, they still haven't been used

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- In a nondescript lot on the south side, 20 white vans have sat unused for months. Records obtained by CBS 58 show Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) spent more than $1 million on those vans, and plans to get them on the road have shifted for more than a year.

Last winter, a source within the district questioned why the vans were not being put to use. Their only movement was a shift from being parked at the district's central office at N. 53rd St. and W. Vliet St. to their current home near S. 20th St. and W. Oklahoma Ave. 

Through an open records request, CBS 58 sought all communications related to the purchase and use of the vans. After a nearly five-month wait, MPS provided more than two years' worth of emails.

Those communications show the district's transportation director, David Fifarek, was working on a lease agreement for the vans back in the summer of 2023 after the board of directors approved the purchase that June.

The deal called for MPS to pay in advance for the entire cost of 60-month leasing plans for 20 2024 Chrysler Pacifica hybrid vans at a cost of $1.25 million, essentially giving the district full ownership of the vehicles.

That money was part of the $770 million MPS received in federal aid related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The expiration date on those funds meant more than $1 million was burning a hole in Fifarek's pocket. In a February 2024 email to the fleet dealer, he expressed concern over supply chain issues holding up delivery of the vans. He wrote at the time, "If I don't spend this money in the next couple months, I LOSE the money."

About six months later, MPS had the vans when Fifarek told an internal auditor in an August 2024 email, "We plan on beginning the pilot with those vehicles in September." Instead, the vans sat around for the entire winter.

This past March, the board's clerk, Tina Owen-Moore, emailed Fifarek and said a couple of board members had questions about the vans not being put to use. In his response, Fifarek said, complications related to insurance and drivers' contracts were holding up the process.

He explained the district was trying to find a plan where MPS would insure the vans during the times they weren't moving, then have an outside contractor supplying drivers insure the vehicles for when they're on the road. Fifarek said such an insurance arrangement was proving to be costly.

Fifarek went on to say, "The plan is to have these vehicles ready and begin usage with CONTRACTORS ONLY shortly after spring break."

As of Thursday, the vans are sitting the south side lot, just as they were when a CBS 58 crew first recorded video of them in late March.

MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, whose tenure began in March, said in an interview this week the vans will be used to get homeless students to and from school, and that was one of the original purposes of the federal dollars.

"They were granted the grant money, so I went and found out the money is for students with homeless needs in routing," Cassellius said. "So, we'll be using it for that."

Cassellius added a key date approaching will give MPS more clarity for how to use the vans. For Wisconsin public schools, the enrollment count is based on the third Friday in September. 

The superintendent said that information will help the district determine how many homeless students are in the district, as well as where the vans should pick them up and drop them off.

"My understanding is they're routed, and they should be going around, so I would expect immediately, they'll be getting used," Cassellius said.

A CBS 58 reporter then asked Cassellius if she was concerned those issues weren't already sorted out by now.

"I can't speak to what was happening earlier," she said. "But when I found out we had 20 vans, I had great ideas for how they could be used."