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Daryl Kimball is the lone mechanic for 24 buses operated by Menahga Independent School District #821 in Minnesota, which must forego new vehicle purchases this year due to COVID-19.


The South Carolina Department of Education used the pandemic ‘downtime’ to work ahead on its statewide fleet of buses.


Meanwhile, Bullman, the director of maintenance with the South Carolina Department of Education, said about 85 percent of the 5,620 school buses statewide were idled during the pandemic but maintenance issues were minimal. “To be honest, it was really a lot less than we anticipat-


ed, although we made a real effort to be proactive. It gave us a chance to really get back to the basics of preventa- tive maintenance stuff and get ahead,” Bullman said. “We really feel good about where we’re at right now—both from a fleet maintenance standpoint and really from a budgetary standpoint.” Roughly halfway between Menahga and Columbia sits


the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers, where Zach McK- inney oversees a fleet of 320 buses in 22,000-student district Hamilton Southeastern Schools.


“From a preventative maintenance standpoint, we are in a better position right now because we’ve had that time that we wouldn’t have had normally,” explained McKinney, whose district received an insurance dis- count when buses were off the road. While Albin, Bullman, McKinney and their colleagues


worked hard to create successes in the face of the pan- demic, they acknowledged that disinfecting protocols will remain in place for the foreseeable future.


Driver Shortages, Budget Concerns and More However, changes could be coming to district pur- chasing and budgets. The Menahga school board directed Albin to postpone the purchase of a new bus for at least a year. And McKinney is concerned about a dom- ino effect, with the real crunch coming to the 2022-2023


www.stnonline.com 31


PHOTO CREDIT MIKE BULLMAN/ SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


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