SANTA ANA, Calif. — American Logistics Company (ALC) is partnering with Kent (Wash.) School District to provide transportation services for McKinney-Vento students.

Kent School District is the second district in Washington state to contract with ALC. Seattle Public Schools recently renewed a transportation contract for the 2010-11 school year.

Kent School District selected ALC to provide transportation services for 10 to 15 percent of its “hardest-to-serve” McKinney-Vento students who have been displaced to more remote areas both inside and outside of district boundaries. In most cases, as few as two or three students are being transported from a single, remote location. When traditional or cut-away buses are used, this can drive up costs, inefficiencies and contribute to an increase in the overall carbon footprint of the district’s transportation program.

“We were attracted to ALC due to the company’s proven expertise in efficiently providing remote, and out-of-district transportation programs to students with special needs,” said Don Walkup, transportation supervisor for Kent School District. “Due to various circumstances, we ended up transitioning to ALC during the busiest time of the school year — the final six weeks. While this wasn’t the most ideal scenario, ALC really stepped up to the plate and did everything in their power to achieve as smooth a transition as possible. We are grateful for their hard work and diligence in making this partnership work.”

In addition to improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Kent School District’s McKinney-Vento program, ALC also helped to reduce the program’s carbon footprint using a combination of fully-compliant vans and sedans. This contributes to a reduction in fuel consumption when compared to the amount of gas used by traditional buses, and also helps to reduce the wear and tear that larger vehicles have on the environment, the company said.

“We are pleased to be partnering with Kent School District to provide McKinney-Vento transportation for their most difficult-to-serve students,” said Craig Puckett, ALC’s president. “Because ALC only focuses on serving students with special transportation needs, our technology and strong relationships with highly trained drivers offers us the flexibility we need to serve populations whose needs and requirements may change on a weekly or daily basis depending on their circumstances.”

Through its proprietary trip optimization technology, ParaMax, ALC seeks to decrease school transportation costs by analyzing data provided by the district to “right size” each vehicle and trip.

Its Intelligent Transportation System helps clients to achieve high performance metrics, the company said.