MAILBAG
TAKING UP ARMS I want to take a minute to thank you for article in the April issue
(First Take, page 8). You hit the nail right on the head with what’s going in school transportation. We are a district that usually trans- ports 1,800 kids a day in regular buses and around 150 in special education and preschool, so we are a fairly small district in the state of Washington. We also have on average between five to six homeless kids, but that number always varies. Our budget for our special needs, homeless and preschool runs almost the same as our regular kids. I’m sure you know this. Te frustrating thing that we’ve been dealing with is how our legislature plays us like a fiddle. Tey’ll first talk about taking funding from us and then give it back to the point where we never know what’s happening next, even though our state constitution says that education needs to be fully funded. I’m fairly new at this job, but I’ve never written so many emails to congressional people with my hat in hand. — Chris B. Steiner, Transportation/Maintenance Nooksack Valley (Wash.) School District
CONSTRUCTIVE ARTICLE I would like to thank you for the wonderful article on our new
facility and making it your cover story (March, page 40). John Whelan was a pleasure to work with while drafting the story. We pride ourselves in the green philosophy and appreciate you elabo- rating this point. We are proud of our new facility and would be happy to assist anyone starting a similar project. — David Anderson, Director of Transportation & Fleet Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Thornton, Colo.
HEARD AROUND THE WEB Disqus: “School Bus OEMs, Partners Help Alt-Fuel Customers Navigate New Technology,”
STNOnline.com, April 11 Te biggest thing we’re seeing is that school districts need fac-
tual, independent information on the relative operational costs, life-cycle costs, and environmental benefits of the various prom- ising alternative fuel technologies. And they need grants, seed money or creative financing methods to initiate the projects. Districts that want to go even ‘greener’ than clean diesel need
to do a fair amount of homework to justify the return on invest- ment to their school boards, because the capital and up-front cost of the new technologies and new fueling infrastructure are usually higher than conventional buses and the existing fueling infrastructure. Some districts, like Leon County Schools (CNG) and Indian
River County Schools (LPG) here in Florida, have done the homework, though, and are leading the transition to alternative fuels. Tey’re receiving a lot of inquiries from their sister dis- tricts, especially with the price of diesel escalating again, while abundant, domestic natural gas is at historically low price levels. Of course, some of us old-timers, who remember when diesel
was considered an alternative fuel, still want to see even greener technologies and less dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuel as the alternatives becoming increasingly viable. — Charlie Hood, Florida State Director
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2/29/2012 12:32:10 PM
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