The Tekamah-Herman school board committee that discusses transportation needs has been talking for months about upgrading the district’s bus fleet.
Although the district no longer hauls rural students to and from school every day, its buses still get a workout, For example, the school’s track teams went to a meet in Malcolm recently. That’s when the need to upgrade really hit home. With the vehicle still in the parking lot, it was noticed that the bus had blown a brake line. Repairs were estimated at $5,800.
There may be less of that soon.
During its April 8 meeting the school board approved the purchase of two buses to upgrade the fleet. Superintendent Brad Kjar said both models are coming off of leases and have less than 20,000 miles.
The $120,000 cost for each will be paid with federal grant dollars for which the district qualifies under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. The money is part of the American Relief Plan approved by Congress in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Other upgrades to the school’s physical plant also are in the works. For example, plans are in the works to convert a storage area in the fine arts wing back into a rest room—two ADA-accessible rest rooms actually. The need has been shown due to the number of elementary school students who use the fine arts area every day. Board member Burt Rogers said making the renovation keeps younger children from unnecessarily interacting with older students and eliminates the need for them to make the long trek back to the elementary wing to use a rest room.
The board also approved the purchase of window blinds for nearly every classroom. The use of technology, especially smartboards, is hampered by sun glare.
Finally, an insurance settlement will pay to refurbish the floors in the basement damage when a broken water pipe flooded the basement over the winter.
In other business April 8, the school board:
—Approved the by-law changes sought by the Tekamah-Herman Community Schools Foundation.
When the foundation was set up nearly 30 years ago, most of the final decision-making power over the foundation’s internal workings was vested with the school board. For example, any authority to fill a vacancy rests with the school board. The foundation board decided to change the by-laws to allow it to name its own new members.
The changes also update how meetings are announced and other minor updates.
Former superintendent Dean Chase, who recently was elected president of the foundation board, said the some of the board’s common practices are not reflected in the old by-laws.
“We had an attorney rewrite them to update the by-laws to what we’re doing now,” he said. “We’re not trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. We’ll continue to do things the way we’ve done them.”
School board member Sheryl Stansberry, who also sits on the foundation’s board, said the changes, although minor, are well past due.
“This should have been done years ago,” she told her colleagues.