GUILDERLAND — Craig Lipps is the new transportation director for the Guilderland schools.

The school board appointed him at its Jan. 30 meeting, on a provisional basis, at an annual rate of $105,000.

“He’ll be starting on February 26, not a day too soon,” said Superintendent Marie Wiles.

Lipps replaces Inho Suh, who was hired two-and-a-half years ago, in the summer of 2021, to replace Danielle Poirier who was director for nine years after Christine Sagendorf retired.

Lipps is taking the helm at a difficult time as Guilderland, like the rest of the nation, is facing a bus driver shortage exacerbated by the pandemic and is also facing new state requirements to move to emission-free buses.

Schools are mandated to purchase zero-emission buses after July 1, 2027 and to have all transportation emission free after July 1, 2035.

A $4 billion environmental bond approved by voters across New York state in 2022 allocates $500 million for the transition to emission-free buses.

“This is both a very large amount of funding and a very small amount of the overall cost of transitioning,” Andrew Van Alstyne, assistant superintendent for business, told the school board on Jan. 30.

A conventional, full-size school bus currently costs $162,000, he said, for which Guilderland would receive $103,000 in state aid — leaving a net cost of about $59,000.

An electric bus costs in the neighborhood of $430,000 but, with the state bus-incentive, the net cost would be a little over $76,000, he said. “Our transportation aid ratio is high enough that it would be a net cost of zero after aid is factored in.”

However, noting smiles, VanAlstne went on, “This is a proposal, so we can’t make a decision.”

He said that, at a recent business practices committee meeting, “We talked about having multiple pathways depending on what happens.

Also, he stressed, “There is a tremendous amount of infrastructure that needs to take place to facilitate this … We can’ just get an electric bus, have it roll up and be able to plug it in.” Chargers will be needed and the capacity to hold the chargers, he noted.

Van Alstyne said, “We are looking at doing a fleet transition study.”

Other business

In other business at its Jan. 30 meeting, the Guilderland School Board:

— Heard a summary from Wiles of results of an online survey on budget priorities. Keeping class sizes small topped the list, followed by supporting students with learning needs, and finally maintaining arts programs, she said.

Board members will also be surveyed on their priorities;

— Heard from Wiles that the district’s seven equity action teams — one from each school — are having a mid-year workshop to create a district-wide vision for their work. Derek Westbrook, the district’s director for diversity, equity and inclusion, will soon make a presentation to the board about ongoing DEI work in the schools, Wiles said;

— Got a first look at a proposed calendar for the 2024-25 school year. “It is a very long school year …,” said Wiles. “So we are able to build in literally all of the holidays that we have been working to include as part of our DEI work. So Eid is included. We now have the Lunar New Year, which is state law, and of course, Juneteenth.”

The calendar has 185 school days with 181 student attendance days, allowing for five snow days.

Wiles said there are “mixed feelings” about whether to have a conference day on Nov. 1, the day after Halloween, or on Nov. 5.

“Right now, it’s scheduled for the fifth, which is Election Day, and it’s a huge Election Day,” said Wiles;

— Heard from Van Alstyne that the state comptroller’s office, in its annual assessment of school districts’ fiscal stress, determined, for the ninth year in a row, that Guilderland did not warrant a designation.

Last year, Guilderland had zero points for financial stress; this year, the district had 8.3 points because of the reduction of its fund balance.

Guilderland scored 15 points in the environmental stress measure because of the percentage of students it has learning English and because of teacher turnover. Scores under 30 points result in no designation;

— Established non-resident tuition rates of $11,522 for kindergarten through sixth grade and of $13,816 for seventh through 12th grades;

— Adopted policies on citizens’ committees to advise the board, on school board meetings, on the school year and calendar, on citizenship education, on displaying the American flag, on homebound instruction, on purchasing, on conditional appointments, on free and reduced-price meals, and a new policy on preventing workplace violence; and

— Heard from Wiles that the Future-Ready Task Force met with “close to 50 people on our virtual call: parents, students, community members, faculty, administrators, representatives from CSArch architecture firm.”

Five groups were formed to work on: elementary programs, secondary humanities, secondary STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) along with career skills, performing arts, and gathering spaces “that will look at lobbies and cafeterias and large meeting rooms,” said Wiles

Task force members are to share their recommendations with the board by the fall of 2024 with the goal of having a capital project referendum in May 2025.

Wiles concluded, “I think it’s really exciting work. So I’m really pleased with how that got off the ground.”