School Board OKs buying more than $2 million in buses

BENTONVILLE — The School Board on Tuesday approved purchasing more than $2.2 million in school buses.

The board voted 5- 0 in support of the purchase at a special board meeting.

Eric White, board president, and Jennifer Faddis, board member, were absent.

The district will purchase 19 77-passenger route school buses for $109,990 each and one 33- passenger special education program bus for $114,166 from Summit Bus of Conway, according to supporting documents.

The district normally purchases eight to 14 buses annually, according to supporting documents.

The purchase of 20 buses this year is feasible due to the availability of funds through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and American Rescue Plan, said Leslee Wright, communications director.

Having additional buses will allow the district to provide greater social distancing to students who ride the bus to school during the pandemic, said Janet Schwanhausser, deputy superintendent and chief financial officer.

The purchase will also make a significant to-be-determined impact on reducing the age of the fleet, according to supporting documents. The buses will be added to the fleet with older, higher-mileage buses being declared as surplus.

“Our head mechanic will determine which buses will be retired after the purchase of 20 new vehicles,” Wright said.

There are currently 158 buses in the district’s fleet, some of which were purchased as far back as 1992, according to supporting documents.

The board likewise voted 5-0 to approve increases to the licensed, classified and administrative salary schedules for the 2021-22 school year.

The new schedules include a 2.5% overall increase and a overall step increase of about 1% for a combined total payroll increase of 3.5%, Wright said.

In other news, the board voted 5-0 to hire Aaron Nickles as the executive director of technology.

Nickles will be replacing Thomas Rice, whose resignation from the district is effective today , Wright said.

Nickles will start working for the district Thursday, he said, and comes to Bentonville from NetCanoe, a company he founded that provides technological solutions to schools and businesses.

NetCanoe has offices in Little Rock; Northlake, Texas; and Bozeman, Mo., according to the company website.

Nickles has also previously served as the technology director for Belgrade School District in Montana, Wright said.

One of Nickles’ greatest responsibilities will be managing the district’s cybersecurity, said Debbie Jones, superintendent.

The board voted 5-0 Tuesday to reclassify the position from “technology director” to “technology executive director” as well.

The district discovered the salary wasn’t within the market range for surrounding districts when conducting the search to fill the technology director position, said Tanya Sharp, chief operating officer.

Bentonville was formerly paying $77,527 to $105,818 annually for the position, compared to $85,504 to $102,434 for Springdale, $ 95,871 to $142,372 for Fayetteville and $89,065 to $151,018 for Rogers, according to supporting documents.

The new pay range for Bentonville’s technology executive director will be $101,382 to $138,379 annually, according to supporting documents.

Nickles will be paid $114,835 annually, Wright said.