Board Discusses Replacing Buses

The McDonald County R-1 School District Board of Education, at its Jan. 13 meeting which lasted about 20 minutes, discussed replacing a number of buses.

Transportation director Doug Coberley presented a bid from Midwest Transit for three buses at $99,450 each. These buses will be used to fulfill the district's grant obligation for a VW grant, which is for $22,000 each, he said. Board members asked Coberley about the brand of buses, and he said, for the last few years, the district has been purchasing Internationals. He said the biggest problem the transportation department has with buses is with electronics, due to the rough roads, and the electronics are better secured on Internationals.

The board approved the purchase of the three buses.

Also, Coberley requested permission to seek bids on four more of the same type of buses. School board president Frank Woods asked if that would make the fleet's oldest buses 2008 models, and Coberley said it would.

Coberley said it would be best to have a standard number of buses replaced every year. He said he would like to have the fleet replaced every 10 years by possibly purchasing six buses per year. He said some buses in the fleet have 240,000 miles on them. Some buses will last longer than that, but with being driven over rough roads, they need to be replaced, he said.

The board approved the request to seek bids.

Also, the board approved a contract for a program approved recently to place two mental health workers in the district. One worker serves in Pineville/White Rock, and the other serves in Noel/Southwest City. Superintendent Mark Stanton said State Rep. Dirk Deaton helped secure the funding for the program.

"We appreciate (Deaton) helping us getting this going. There's a lot of mental health needs right now, as we all know," he said.

FFA members gave a presentation on their trip to FFA National Convention in Indianapolis. Highlights they mentioned were a career fair, speakers, meeting new people and kissing the bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Stanton expressed his appreciation for all staff, teachers, custodial workers and paraprofessionals while the district is dealing more with covid-19. He said it is a "tough time." He noted school would be out Friday, Jan. 14 for an AMI day and Monday, Jan. 17 for Dr. Martin Luther King Day, which would provide time for cleaning the schools and for staff members to get well.