Bus Replacement And Director Appointment At School Board
Oskaloosa Community School Administration
The need for major body work was the biggest reason those buses were pulled from service, all dating back to 1994 and before. “We’ve been monitoring them for some time. The inspector is much harder than he was a couple of years ago”, said Oskaloosa Schools Superintendent, Russ Reiter.
The cost to repair each bus that has been removed from service is $25,000. Cost effectiveness became the issue, considering the number of miles on each bus and that each was at least 22 years old.
Oskaloosa School Superintendent, Russ Reiter, ran the board through the options available to the district, and to get permission to seek bids for three replacement buses “for a quality price”.
The district will be looking for 2, 77-passenger buses, and an 83 passenger bus to replace those that are out of service.
Those options include bids on new buses, buses that are off a lease program, and used buses. The plan is to have those bus replacement options available to the board for the November 8th board meeting.
The price for the 3 buses could be upwards of $90,000 each, with the potential of a bundle package for $200,000 for all three.
Oskaloosa School Board member, Carl Drost, suggested that a board policy be explored to determine the best time to take a bus out of service for automatic replacement.
Drost stated that in the past, gas engine buses were rotated out of service every 10 years, equal to the life of the engine and powertrain. Carl suggested that the new policy might be in the 15 to 18 year range for current diesel buses.
Current buses suffer from rust issues before the powertrain fails. A bus is taken out of service if the inspector can push a screwdriver through the rusted portion of bodywork.
The board also discussed the upcoming board appointment, due to the resignation of Nick Hansen from the board. For the board, those positions are called Directors, and the board has the option of appointing an individual to the board, as long as that person comes from Director District 1.
Interested individuals can contact the Oskaloosa School Administration Office for the paperwork for the position.
November 11th is the deadline for a petition to hold a special election for the position. That petition would need to contain 100 signatures, and the candidates would still need to be located within District 1.
If the special election were to happen, and a candidate wins, that candidate would then serve approximately 9 months until the next regular school board election, where they would need to run for the position to fill out the remaining 2 years.
