Dist. One up 10 school buses, down 20 drivers
While 10 new buses are on the way thanks to two different grants, Yuma Elementary School District One is still lacking drivers.
“The biggest challenge that we face in our department is having an adequate amount of bus drivers,” Director of Transportation Ronald Schepers said during a district board meeting Monday evening.
Even though 21 were hired since the beginning of the school year, the loss of 15 drivers means that the district is still short of proper staffing, according to Schepers. The district currently employs 115.
“We figure that we need about 135 drivers to be adequately staffed, in order to meet all of our transportation needs on any given day,” Schepers said.
Schepers also presented to the board information about two different grants that will see the district purchasing 10 new buses in the near future.
One of them, the State Clean Diesel Grant, gives the district $119,670 to replace two older diesel powered buses with three new propane ones.
Yuma Union High School District is also a recipient of this grant, receiving $199,449 to replace five older buses with four new propane ones.
District One’s buses will be delivered after July 1, and those that they are replacing must be decommissioned by the end of September.
The other grant, which is the result of a settlement with automaker Volkswagen over their cheating of emissions tests, will supply 285 new buses to schools around Arizona, including seven that will go to Yuma Elementary School District One.
“These buses, we have quotes out for them, we’re still receiving the quotes, but we have two years to actually purchase the buses, get them in place and then disable the old buses that they’re taking the place for,” said Schepers.
During Monday’s meeting, the board also approved nearly $10,000 in donations, including $1,650 worth of gift certificates to Del Sol Market given to Roosevelt Elementary School by Church for the City.
“We’ve already surpassed last (school) year’s total for the entire 12 months, with a year to date total of $109,374.56,” said Superintendent Jamie Sheldahl.