Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home School Board last week approved a request by staff to order four new 77-passenger buses for next school year.
During its regular meeting on Dec. 10, the board approved the expenditure of $462,000 for the buses, which will replace four 78-passenger 2002 International Amtram buses with more than 200,000 miles.
They have been in service as regular route buses for 16 years, said Business Manager Kevin Strong.
The district already has 10 of the model and year.
“We’ve had motors go,” said Transportation Supervisor Cheryl Hicks, and the district has replaced those engines. The district will keep those in the fleet longer and get rid of those that haven’t had new motors.
The district is reimbursed 70 percent of the cost of the buses over several years by the State of Oregon. The district is purchasing them as part of a cooperative contract with Eugene School District.
Funding will come from the upcoming 2019-20 budget from the Bus Replacement Fund.
The new buses, 2019 Blue Bird buses by Western Bus Sales, are scheduled for delivery in August 2019.
The last time the district purchased a bus, it was a used 25-passenger Blue Bird, with wheelchair access, from Marcola in the current fiscal year, 2018-19. The district purchased two 78-passenger 2018 Blue Birds in 2017-18. The district has a total of 31 buses.
Present at the meeting were board members Toni Petersen, Jim Gourley, Chanz Keeney, Jason Van Eck, Mike Reynolds, Angela Clegg, Debra Brown, Jenny Daniels and Chairman Jason Redick.
In other business, the board:
– Declared surplus four 16-inch Jet Wood lathes from the high school wood shop.
– Approved the donation of 2,300 board feet of logs from Jim Harsh to the high school wood shop.