Is another bus needed"
Sanders proposes buying nine school buses for $700K

GUILDERLAND — As the school board on Tuesday reviewed a proposal to purchase nine new buses, including six large ones, two board members questioned whether that was enough.
"We decided not to get the seventh bus even though the consultant said it would be useful"" asked board member Richard Weisz.
"Eventually, it will catch up to us," conceded Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders who presented the proposal to the board. "We’re trying to be cognizant of the fact it does have an impact on our debt."

Last month, officers of the local union that includes bus drivers and mechanics expressed concerns to the school board about a $10,000 efficiency study on busing students it had agreed to; the NEA (National Education Association) officers were particularly concerned about privatization. They handed out invitations to each board member to shadow bus drivers as they work.

Board member Catherine Barber said she had ridden on a bus that day and she was surprised how many demands there are on the transportation services.

The district currently has a fleet of 110 buses; 90 are assigned to routes and 20 are used as spares. Overall, the bus fleet travels 8,000 miles a day or 1.5 million miles a year.

Weisz said he thought the number of spares sounded like a lot until he realized the state could call up a half-dozen for inspection. Spares are also used when buses break down or when field trips or sports trips overlap with regular runs, said Sanders.
"We’re really out of spare buses in the large-bus category," said Christine Sagendorf, the district’s transportation supervisor. "A lot of times, the lot is empty."
Weisz said that was why he was concerned about not buying the seventh large bus this year. "I don’t want to pass on to future boards a year when they have to buy 10 buses," he said.

The proposal presented by Sanders was to replace four 66-passenger buses, three 47-passenger buses, and two 20-passenger buses. The buses are each over 10 years old and have between 118,000 and 156,000 miles, Sanders said.
The district would buy three 30-passenger buses at $165,000 each, and six 66-passenger buses. The three big buses with chains, "for hilly areas," said Sanders, would cost $268,390 each and the three without chains would cost $262,330.

The total cost for the bus purchases would be $695,720.

Sanders said that Transportation Advisory Services, the company that is doing the efficiency study on the district’s transportation system, reviewed the proposal and said seven big buses would maintain the average age of the fleet.
Board member Colleen O’Connell stressed, "He’s being paid for that opinion and we’re not going to buy buses from him," which Sanders said was correct.

Sanders’s proposal also included replacing one plow truck in the maintenance and grounds department at a cost of $45,000.

The new truck with salter would replace an 18-year-old plow truck that has rusted and has parts that are not readily replaceable, Sanders said.
Board member John Dornbush asked if that was the truck the district had proposed buying a year ago "and we took it out of the budget."

Sanders said it was.

The truck and bus purchases would be financed through short-term Bond Anticipation Notes, Sanders said, which are renewable for up to a five-year period. The first debt-service payment would be in 2007-08 and would be offset by a prior maturing five-year note, he said.

Sanders recommended that, as usual, there be a separate bus-and-equipment proposition for voters to decide on May 16 with the budget vote and annual election. The total amount for the proposition would be $740,720. Currently, the state reimburses Guilderland just over half in transportation aid.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Heard from Mike Murphy, who spoke for the Hockey Booster Club and the varsity team, asking that the hockey budget not be cut further.

Last year, he said, the $21,000 budget was cut by about $9,000. The school district gets about $4,000 in gate receipts against the $13,000 it pays, said Murphy.
"The kids were called upon to do fund-raising to make up that difference," he said; this came to about $650 per player.

Additionally, Murphy said, families pay for much expensive equipment, such as $200 or more for a pair of skates and $180 or more for a helmet.
He also said that hockey was "an easy target" for budget cuts because it was the only team with facilities costs listed separately.
"We’re not complaining," said Murphy, stating the families had accepted the responsibility. "We’re asking you to consider the sacrifices that have been made and not to make any more cuts in the hockey budget";

— Appointed Barry Hughes as a community representative to the audit committee now required by state law, and appointed O’Connell as a board representative, replacing Thomas Nachod.

Danese said Nachod was stepping down because of a perceived conflict of interest; he commended Nachod for his work;

— Appointed eight more members to the Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee, bringing the total now to 18 — half new members and half returning members.

This week’s appointees are new members Bryan Anderson, Jeanna Cornetti, Tracy Murphy, and Joe Siracusa, and returning members David Heller, Richard Young, Timothy Burke, and Rae Ellen Burke.

Last year, 29 volunteers participated. The superintendent urged district residents to contact him or a school board member if they are interested in joining.

The committee will meet six times in March, beginning on March 2. This year, for the first time, each session will include a 20- to 30-minute question-and-answer period facilitated by Aidala;

— Adopted, by a vote of 8 to 1, a policy on notification of Level 3 sex offenders, deemed to be the most dangerous in the state’s three-tiered system.

Barbara Fraterrigo, who chairs the board’s policy committee, went over the point system, which accounts for 14 factors, in determining a sex offender’s level.

Weisz asked why the district sends home notice only of Level 3 offenders.
"We want to really focus on the most serious offender," said Superintendent Gregory Aidala. Staff is notified if a Level 2 offender moves into the district so they can be on the lookout, he said, but notices are sent home only for Level 3 offenders.
Board member Linda Bakst cast the sole dissenting vote. She had said at an earlier board meeting that she opposed sending home pictures of the offenders, stating that they are available on-line and it is "unnecessarily scary";

— Heard that Seneca House, the new, fourth house at Farnsworth Middle School will host a Diversity Celebration on Feb. 17 where each student will make a flag for their family’s country of origin and families will bring in foods that celebrate their heritage;

— Heard from board member Peter Golden that motions he had proposed on how the district procures health insurance be tabled until more information is provided;

— Heard from Bakst about a legislative breakfast she attended during which, she said, the Guilderland contingent made it clear to state representatives that school-aid cuts proposed by the governor should be restored.
"They’re going to have to get to some hard work about how schools are funded," she said. "Some of the governor’s proposals are dead on arrival...which I think is a good thing for us";

— Heard that school-district representatives met with representatives of the Guilderland Public Library on Feb. 1 to discuss matters of mutual interest, including computer innovations at the library, a joint Reading Connections program, and the library’s long-range plans; and

— Met in executive session to discus administrator and supervisor performance reviews and a real-property issue.