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Stanly County Schools is requesting bid proposals for a new driving school to contract with for the upcoming school year.

This comes after Marvin Smith Driving School in Albemarle, which has handled all driver education services with SCS for the past 20 years, recently notified the school system that after May of this year or at the point a new contractor is named, it would no longer be providing its services.

“Stanly County Schools is currently in the RFP process for several service contracts, one of which is driver’s education,” said Superintendent Jarrod Dennis. “Marvin Smith Driving School had informed us, via email, that they are canceling the current contract and will not be submitting a proposal.”

Businesses have until 4 p.m. Wednesday to submit proposals, according to a post on the school system’s website. The Board of Education is scheduled to award the contract during its monthly meeting on April 13.

According to a document sent to The Stanly News & Press from Marvin Smith, the owner of the driving school, the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions that resulted from it caused financial losses for his business in the contract with SCS.

Smith noted that the requirements for the bid request are quite different from the current contract and would require “significant investment in equipment and resources,” which is something Smith says that his driving school cannot do for what would be a one-year contract.

Smith said his driving school would continue as the contractor for Montgomery County Schools.