South Putnam to purchase two buses for 2014-15 school year

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

The South Putnam School Board met for its monthly meeting on Monday evening during which it discussed the purchase of new buses along with several routine issues to prepare for the upcoming school year.

As it is done yearly, the board discussed the purchase of new buses, which generally involves trading buses in. However, the corporation will not be doing so this year due to the shortage of spare buses last year.

"Some years we buy three buses, but this year we're going to buy two buses," Superintendent Bruce Bernhardt said. "In previous years, prior to three or four years ago, we did a lot of the bidding ourselves. However, service centers have taken that over and they do a statewide bid with the transportation departments now."

Bernhardt went on to add that the corporation goes on to review the lists of bids, picking what features it'd like, before coming to a decision.

Transportation Director Neil Rissler then came before the board with the statewide bid sheet with various bids from different companies. However, he chose to focus on just two, Thomas and the International Corporation (IC).

"We have always went with IC's or Thomas buses," Rissler said. "We have some of both in our fleet. The last two years we've bought IC's, primarily because when we trade buses in, they give you so much more for the trades."

This year, it was recommended by Rissler to purchase two new Thomas buses for a cost of $102,937 rather than two IC buses for a cost of $102,386.

"I would like to suggest that we go with the Thomas even though it's $500 higher," Rissler stated. "We've had some problems with our IC's the last couple years. They're still using some older technology in their engines. We have more Thomas buses than anything. The Thomas dealer gives us service incomparable to the other one."

With that being said, Rissler listed a bunch of features the corporation could add on or take off the bids of the buses. With all the offers on the table, the board chose just two add ons to the two 78-passenger buses, luggage racks and stop arm cameras.

"I felt like we have a good enough fleet and with some spares we'll kind of dedicate a couple of buses for sporting events," Rissler said. "Football and track use a lot of storage. They sometimes have to take the big trailer or the blue van. This would enable us to put the luggage with the bus they're going on. To have a couple of buses with luggage racks would be very beneficial."

Rissler advised that he racks would cost $2,000 per side or $8,000 per bus. The money to purchase the new racks would be put into a parts credit, which is money set aside each year for parts or accessories for a bus. This upcoming year, Rissler will put away $12,500 per bus, which will partially go toward the racks.

"The factory luggage compartments typically don't hold up very well," Rissler explained. "One of the dealers has an outside source for fiberglass luggage racks that they will install for us. They're a little higher, but they hold up a little better."

With board members being weary of what the parts credit was, Rissler noted that it is typically added to the bus bid.

"We pay the dealer that money," Rissler explained. " It sits there in an open account for us, when we order a part it is deducted from that. The reason it's so high is for the luggage compartments."

The money in the parts credit account is used over an entire year. If all of the money in the account is not used the corporation gets the money back or it rolls over. However, the money can only be used on parts or accessories for the new buses.

"I felt like we have a good enough fleet and with some spares we'll kind of dedicate a couple of buses for sporting events," Rissler said. "Football and track use a lot of storage. They sometimes have to take the big trailer or the blue van. This would enable us to put the luggage with the bus they're going on. To have a couple of buses with luggage racks would be very beneficial."

Rissler noted that the buses would likely not be used on regular routes. They would be spare buses that are only used for special events, such as sporting events.

The board also agreed to put stop arm cameras on the newer buses, which are used on high traffic areas.

"We have a lot of stop arm violators on U.S. 40 and U.S. 231," Rissler said. "These cameras will spot and give law enforcement the license plate number, a shot of the driver, everything. Our state troopers said if we give them that information they'll go after them."

There will be two stop arm cameras on the buses, one pointing forward and one toward the back. There will also be three cameras within the buses as well.

With the purchase of the new buses, the South Putnam School Corporation will now have 29 buses in its fleet with seven spares total. However, Rissler noted that the number might not be accurate as this year many of the spare buses were running special needs routes daily.

In other business:

* The board approved the resignations of middle school/high school teachers Julia Crone and Brian McClure, athletic trainer Valerie Rayce, middle school football coach Josh Hendrickson and volleyball coach Deanna Long.

* The board approve the retirement of bus driver Georgia Showalter, the maternity leave of Renata Hendrickson, the termination of Central Elementary custodian Kay Fislar and the hiring of middle school/high school Bethany LeBlanc.

* The board approved the elementary, middle school and high school student handbooks for the 2014-15 school year.

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  • So, if SP has 29 buses in its fleet with seven spares, does this mean SP has a TOTAL of 36 buses?

    Who is "Rissler" and is he an employee of SPCSC?

    -- Posted by Lookout on Wed, Jun 18, 2014, at 8:31 AM
    Response by Jared Jernagan:
    Thanks for catching. That would be Transportation Director Neil Rissler.
  • What about the 3 food service workers that found out by MAIL,that they would not be coming back to the high school in the fall? Was their termination not mentioned in the school board minutes, or just left out of the paper?

    And what was Bethany LeBlanc hired for?

    -- Posted by spmom on Tue, Jun 24, 2014, at 9:15 AM
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