VOORHEESVILLE – Voorheesville school buses, and their drivers, have been under intense scrutiny throughout the past school year.

Questions arose about the use of school buses after Janet Argiris, of New Scotland, brought her concerns, and her photographs, to the school board in February. Argiris complained that school buses were not being properly used, alleging drivers used them for personal errands. She was concerned about insurance coverage and the cost of fuel.
Following the board meeting, the school district launched an investigation into the use of school buses. "I did a thorough investigation. Nothing was out of line whatsoever," Linda Langevin, superintendent of the Voorheesville schools, said this week.

Argiris does not agree. She feels that some drivers are overstepping their driving priveledges. She has seen school buses parked at the Voorheesville Diner, the post office, various Mobil stations, banks, Smith’s Pizza Tavern, and the Newcomer-Cannon Funeral Home.

School district officials assert that they are aware of the whereabouts of all the buses at all times. All of the buses are equipped with radio systems, and the drivers must radio in and get permission before deviating from their routes.

Argiris has seen that some bus drivers take their buses home during the day, or park their buses at their homes overnight. She is concerned that this is costing the district fuel. Both Langevin and Sarita Winchell, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, say that, in the case of the few drivers who take their buses home, it is more cost effective for the district for them to do so. In those instances, the drivers have multiple routes, and their homes are closer than the school to the route, officials say.
In response to allegations by Argiris, Michael Goyer, transportation supervisor for the district, addressed some situations concerning buses in a memorandum to Winchell dated March 24, 2006. "First, school buses are never consistently on the move. There is always dead time in between runs," Goyer wrote in the memo, obtained by The Enterprise through a Freedom of Information Law request. He goes on, "It is not uncommon for a driver to stop on the path of their runs to use the bathroom, or due to time constraints, pick up a drink at a convenience store."
Finally, he addresses the situation of drivers taking their buses home. "Due to parking and washing situations, drivers have been able to take buses to their homes," Goyer wrote. He then lists the specific drivers who take their buses home, and the time they leave their homes with their buses.

A call to Goyer from The Enterprise this week was answered by Winchell.
Winchell again addressed the issue in a memo to Langevin dated May 15, 2006. She explained to Langevin that, in an earlier memo to Goyer, she stated, "The defining condition here is that you (Goyer) know where the bus is located." She also said: "I do not want the drivers to feel that they cannot make stops for using facilities or getting food when it is appropriate."

Winchell this week likened the bus to an office. Just as office workers are allowed breaks and meals, so, too, are bus drivers, she said.
"There is no insurance issue here, no issue with the district not kowing where buses are; the district knows where the buses are," said Winchell.

Roger Cohn, an agent with the Kenneth Fake Agency, the brokerage firm that the school district gets its insurance through, was asked if a school bus driver were using his bus for a personal errand and were involved in an accident, would it be covered under the insurance policy. He responded that the school buses would be covered the same if they were involved in an accident exiting a Mobil gas station as they would exiting the school parking lot.

Watchdog
Argiris has made it her mission to put a stop to drivers using buses for their own personal use. "These bus drivers are wasting gas," she said.

Argiris worked for the school district as a bus driver decades ago. At 67, she has retired from a long career of driving buses for the University of Albany. She says she carries a camera in her car so that she can take photographs of school buses when she sees them in unusual places.
"I don’t go out of my way to find them," she said.

Argiris is also inflamed that Christine Allard, the president of the United Employees of Voorheesville, the union representing bus drivers, drives her bus to her home on Rock Hill Road. Argiris has seen her bus, #108, at the post office, Smith’s Pizza Tavern, and at the Newcomer-Cannon Funeral Home on Route 155, she said.
"She is the one who should be setting the example," said Argiris.

Multiple phone calls from The Enterprise to Allard this week were not returned.

The UEV contract that ran through June 30 is silent on personal use of buses; it specifies salaries for bus drivers ranging in 12 steps from $11.94 per hour to $14.88 per hour.

Nothing to hide

Robert Fuglein has driven school buses for 24 years and said he has never had problems before with people questioning his work.
"Sometimes people jump to conclusions," he said.

The reason his bus might be seen at the bank or the post office, or The Altamont Enterprise where the district gets printing done, Fuglein said, is because he’s on school business.
"I’m a carrier for the school," he said.

Argiris also pointed out that Fuglein drives his bus to his home on Fuglein Lane and she was concerned that he is trying to hide his bus either in his garage or his barn.

Fuglein responded through The Enterprise, "I park it alongside my garage at night, so I can use my driveway" for other vehicles.
"If I come home in between," he said, of layovers between bus runs during the school day, "it sets in the driveway. I’m not hiding anything. I wave to my neighbors"I had permission from the school. It’s not like I’m trying to hide a bus."

Winchell told The Enterprise this week that there is a problem with traffic congestion at the elementray school, where the bus garage is located. Therefore, as a safety precaution, bus drivers are encouraged to keep their buses off campus, she said. One driver parks her bus at Nichols’ Market, for example.
In her May memo to Langevin, Winchell wrote, "I would prefer that some buses be off campus between runs to minimize the congestion in the lots, particularly at the elementary school."