School board approves bus purchase from Irv Schroeder
The Durham-Hillsboro-Lehigh school district will purchase a new 24-passenger school bus from Irv Schroeder County Motors, board of education members decided Monday night.
The USD 410 school board had received bids for the new bus from two local automobile dealers: Irv Schroeder and Hillsboro Ford. Both dealers submitted prices for a bus with the Blue Bird body design, and both offered price reductions if the district were to trade in its 1989 Ford Econoline bus.
With the trade-in of the old bus, the district will pay $40,330 for the cost of the new bus. The cost for the new bus without the trade-in would have been $1410 more.
Although the trade-in value of the old bus isn't much, the district has no more use for that vehicle, said USD 410 Superintendent Gordon Mohn.
In the 2001-02 school budget, the district had budgeted $35,000 for the purchase of the new bus. Buying the bus at a cost of nearly $40,000 puts the new vehicle's price about $5,300 over the predicted amount.
The new bus is definitely needed, according to Keith Goossen, transportation director for USD 410. With the high number of miles the district's buses see each year, the wear and tear is beginning to show.
"It's a good thing we have full-time mechanics," Goossen said.
There are usually two or three buses that break down completely each year, he said.
The board also received transportation reports for the school year. Currently, school buses drive 13 routes per day, for a total of 895 miles a day. An average of 186 of the 355 eligible riders choose to ride the bus each school day. The total miles driven each day don't include trips for extra activities or sporting events.
The school board also discussed ways to incorporate more time for teacher training and informational sessions.
As part of this effort, the group voted to dismiss school early on three days in February so teachers could attend an informational presentation. School will be dismissed at 11:30 on each of the following days: Tuesday, Feb. 5, at Hillsboro Elementary School; Monday, Feb. 18, at Hillsboro Middle School; and Monday, Feb. 11, at Hillsboro High School.
Buses will run at 11:30 in order to take students home as usual.
During those afternoons, district teachers will attend training sessions with Dr. Randy Watson, assistant superintendent from the McPherson school district. Watson's presentation will help the teachers as they begin to think about forming school improvement plans, Mohn said.
Each building must devise a school improvement plan within 18 months of receiving accreditation after completing the Quality Accreditation process, which Hillsboro successfully finished last fall.
The district could choose to conduct the training sessions after school is dismissed for the summer, but the cost for paying teachers for half a day of work is much higher than the cost of running the buses at 11:30 a.m., Mohn said.
Also, the longer the district waits to form its improvement plan, the more outdated the district's data becomes, he said.
The board also discussed possible early dismissal scenarios for the 2002-03 school year. Instead of the typical half-day dismissals, the district might choose to begin school later, at 9:30 a.m., or dismiss early, at 2 p.m., on teacher training days. These reduced days might occur on a weekly basis.
Teachers need time to improve their skills, Mohn said. Training sessions could include such topics as new technology, small study groups, school improvement, or other activities such as CPR training or health insurance meetings.
Building site councils will now discuss the possible schedule.
In other school board business:
— Hillsboro Elementary School may reduce the number of next year's first-grade classes from three to two, Mohn said.
As of now, there are 37 kindergartners enrolled at HES. If that group is split into two classes next year instead of the usual three, each class will have 18 or 19 students. That number of students per class is a little higher than normal, Mohn said.
"I'm hesitant to say that this is the best place to cut costs," he said.
— The board voted to extend the contract of Superintendent Mohn for a three-year term.
— The district will compensate high school English teacher Sara Hill for teaching a college English course during her typical planning period.
This spring, Hill will teach English Composition II, which students can take for college credit. The course is offered through Cloud County Community College.
Having Hill teach both a college English course as well as English IV, senior-level English, ensures students that they'll be challenged by new upper-level material, said HHS Principal Dale Honeck.
Seniors also benefit from the class because it allows them to get a head-start for college during a year where most seniors have very few classes left to take, Honeck said.
