Air Conditioning Costs Rarely Funded by Grants


the salary of a coordinator to oversee the use of the stimulus funds. But grant funding for this type of pur-


chase is far from common in the industry. A number of air conditioning vendors ex- pressed surprise that the transportation department was able to utilize the grants in the first place. “On school buses we’ve seen very little


For the special needs students of Fred-


erick County Public Schools in Maryland, warm-weather bus rides will soon be a lot cooler thanks to the addition of air condi- tioning units on 24 of the district’s buses. Te more than $100,000 it will cost to


retrofit the vehicles will be covered by funding received through the 2009 Amer- ican Recovery and Reinvestment Act, money that was originally intended to pay


use of stimulus funds,” said a representa- tive from one manufacturer. “For most of the stimulus money that school districts did receive, I don’t think a whole lot of it is going to their transportation department.” But the specific use of air conditioners


on special needs buses is nothing new to many districts. Te rides for special needs students can sometimes be challenging, and the use of air conditioning can help to quell some of the more active students during bus rides when temperatures creep


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close to “unbearable,“ especially when re- quired by a child’s IEP. “Tere have been studies that have


shown that air conditioned buses lead to better behaved children and therefore less of all sorts of other problems,” said Matt Lish, director of North American transport sales for Bitzer US, Inc. “Many of the warm- er states are starting to specify AC on the buses. It is definitely a growing trend.” Robin Biden, director of transportation


Hillsboro (Ore.) School District 1J, recent- ly oversaw the addition of air-conditioned buses to the special needs fleet to accom- modate students with health problems made worse by higher temperatures. “Our climate isn’t such that we


would need them in all buses, but for medically-fragile students and summer programs, this addition has been very helpful,” said Biden. ■


For reliable air conditioning, turn to the people with advanced degrees. Carrier offers the most extensive line of split and rooftop AC units to optimize system performance on any school bus, small to large. And they’re all backed by expert support. Maybe that’s why more school buses in North America cool with Carrier. Call Carrier Transport AC, 1.800.673.2431. Or visit our Web site. For AC that’s an A+.


www.transportaircon.carrier.com


©2008 Carrier Corporation A member of the United Technologies Corporation Family. Stock symbol UTX.


05G Compressor


AC-350 Roofmount


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