The latest on our DOT inspections for the buses? We’re headed to Cattaraugus/Little Valley. Thanks to Superintendent Peterson and his BOE for allowing his transportation director to host us for our inspections. And thanks to Superintendent Rinaldi and his BOE at Gowanda for considering the same as a back up for us. After traveling to Falconer for about two years for our inspections, they’ve decided that enough is enough. That led me to ask our neighbor with an excellent DOT passing rate and a brand new facility to allow us to bring our buses to his garage–starting July 20 and agreed to for one year at which time they’ll review the pros and cons.
Readers will remember that the Department of Transportation inspects our buses and have been unwilling to inspect here at Randolph due to our unsafe lift and inadequate space to get around the bus. That leaves me asking neighboring superintendents for help like the poor orphaned child no one wants who travels from relative to relative. I especially dislike this position because I was raised by a father who said things like, “don’t ask people for favors Kimberly because then you owe them.”
We’ll be paying a pretty price too, $250 per day to use the lift/bay 20 miles away. On July 20, we transport seven of our buses back and forth for the inspections. That will be a full day with my mechanics tied up, the cost of gas, and the cost to use their space. In addition, we’ve been servicing our vehicles at other garages when it’s anything we can’t do ourselves so there’s that expense.
So we continue to contemplate the problem, consider any and all alternatives, and plan for the future. And every time I think about it (daily) and we discuss it as a BOE/superintendent, we circle back to the same best solution. The project we put up in May that went down by one vote. A $1.4 million project that would replace the roof on the entire storage facility, build two mechanics bays with a new lift, handicapped bathroom (required by SED with the construction) and gain two more storage bays by repurposing the current mechanics bays. At no cost to the taxpayer with 83% building aid and the money the BOE already designated from our reserves.
The real kicker? Word is that SED is likely to stop providing state aid on storage facilities. Makes me wonder if we wait much longer if they’ll even aid the roof since it’s on a storage facility (the bus garage). Everything we have to do now actually costs our taxpayers more. How do I not put our best solution up for another vote? Especially when it’s at no cost to our taxpayers and we only lost it by one vote? And how long do we want to be in this position instead of taking care of our own problems? The Randolph community has always shown so much pride in this facility and who we are as a district—how did we end up looking to our neighbors for handouts?
Mrs. Moritz asked that I might answer this question….
I am currently in charge of bus routing, and she felt I could best answer this accurately.
Bus # 170 is the regular bus scheduled to travel on Fox Road. It’s first stop in the morning is on Fox Road, and it is currently scheduled 60 am students. Fox Road is also the last stop on the afternoon run, and the bus is currently scheduled to transport 63 students, which causes an overload of 3 students as it has a capacity of 60. The bus stops in the village on Main St near the truckstop and then on Fifth Ave. and Center Streets on the way in in the morning as it comes to School, reversing this route in the afternoon.
Bus # 173 is on Fox Rd. for pickup of the afternoon PreK students to pick up a student on Pine Hill Rd, and then returns across the same road on way to Torrence Road to return to the Village. He crosses Fox Rd about 11:30. He would have stopped to pick up about 9 Students by the time he gets to Fox Rd, which is about 1/2 of his normal load. Afternoon PK currently has 25 students enrolled. We use both of our 30 passenger Buses for PK runs, and the other 2 runs use 60 P buses. I agree that may not seem like much of a load on the big bus.
I’m not sure which situation you are observing, and I hope this info is useful in answering your question.
I am a RCS graduate and TAXPAYER and recently received School Tax Bills, I Question why I observe an EMPTY FULL SIZE SCHOOL BUS travel past my home on Fox Road Randolph EMPTY EACH DIRECTION daily. Kenneth H. Bissell
Mr. Brooks,
Our fleet includes the following: 25 – 60 passengers buses, 2 – 30 passengers buses, 2 – 8 passengers buses, 2 – 4 passenger cars, all have to be DOT inspected 2 times per year. 1 – 8 passenger, 3 – 4 passengers, 1 – 6 passenger and 1 pickup all have to be inspected 1 time per year by local NYS inspection.
A bit more information on the maintenance records as well: All vehicles have maintenance records inspected internally. Vehicles that are DOT inspected also have their records inspected by DOT and have met the expectations of the DOT inspector.
Kimberly
Ms. Brooks,
Congratulations on your MBA candidacy! Always glad to hear about the success of our RCS graduates. And thank you for contributing to the discussion about your alma mater.
As you suggest, we have reviewed a concrete itemization of the proposition for the addition to the bus garage at public BOE meetings. I could provide that to the public again, I just wonder which is the best way to effectively communicate the details. I’m not sure this blog is the place for practical purposes but perhaps we could post it on the school website as a pdf file and then I could point interested residents to the document. What do you think?
Of course you are correct that a majority of one is still a majority worth agreeing with, just still trying to problem solve and consider any options we have. Eliciting comments and encouraging open and respectful discourse on the blog is a means of communication, with input from readers like you, that will hopefully help.
Kimberly Moritz
I think that it would be interesting and informative for myself (an alumni of RCS and current MBA candidate) as well as the taxpayers of Randolph to see a concrete itemization justifying this 1.4 million dollar improvement. Also, I think it’s somewhat degrading to Randolph to consider the current strategic payment to another school district of $250/day as a “handout.” As a NYS taxpayer, I wonder where this “free” money is really coming from at no cost? Why it is OK for Randolph to receive a handout from NYS taxpayers?
Last time I checked, a majority of one was still a majority worth agreeing with.
I appreciate hearing the educated comments of my favorite former teacher, Mr. Scapelitte, who encouraged me to pursue my goals and enabled me to question decisions being made in my former school district.
Thanks Carol, I have been a teacher in Randolph for twenty years and I have always considered it to be a privilege. I have always felt that I was a part of the community and have always tried to “put my two cents worth in” whenever I felt it was beneficial to the school and to the community. Thank you for your comments.
In response to Dan Scapelletti’s two replies to Catt/LV blob:
Thank you so much Dan for taking the time to send you thoughts, indeed for reading Kim’s blog. Anything that affects the “school” affects all of us, citizens, parents, taxpayers, students and faculty and staff who are employed by the district.
Perhaps if all of the faculty and staff who do live in the district would take the time to even vote in the district elections it would be easier for all of us to feel that we are working together to do what is best for the district. Remember the old saying, “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” Thanks again, Carol Luce
Mr. Brooks,
I’m at a conference for superintendents in Albany so am just getting a chance to answer your questions now-thank you for waiting. We have 30 vehicles in our fleet, but that includes buses, a suburban used to transport students, and the school cars. I’ll have to get the exact number of buses for you tomorrow when our staff is available. They are inspected on a rotating basis, but generally, we’re taking 5-7 buses for DOT inspection once per month.
I’m not sure when you heard me make a point about “unsafe” brake lines and I’ve looked back through my comments on the blog and in the Post Journal article to check when I said “unsafe”–if I called them unsafe, then I was wrong. Instead, as I understand it, the DOT inspector was dissatisfied with the way the brake lines were run and failed the vehicle because of it. We have requested that the DOT inspectors meet with us this week to learn more about what we can do better.
Our business official is also responsible for transportation and he reviews the maintenance records regularly. In addition, I have been reviewing the record of inspection on all of our buses and the summary reports of DOT inspections. All of our maintenance records that require outside payment are also reviewed prior to approval by the head bus mechanic, the business official and me.
This has been an interesting endeavor for me, having spent 20 years becoming expert in curriculum, instruction, student achievement, and fiscal/building management. Adding in the responsibility for bus maintenance has been a challenge, but one I’m meeting. I am asking questions, consulting with internal and external staff, and working with the BOE to make good decisions for the district. If you have additional information or expertise that may be helpful to us, I would be glad to hear from you.
I’ll respond with additional information once I hear from our staff tomorrow. Thank you for participating in the blog conversation and for asking good questions!
Kimberly
Ms. Moritz:
I have a few questions which would help me to understand this issue more thoroughly
1. How many buses do we have at present?
2. How often are they inspected?
3. What exactly was your point regarding the “unsafe” brake lines.?
4. What is the procedure to review the maintenance records for repairs on buses at our school?
To answer your questions: Yes I am a teacher, no I am not a resident of Randolph, I am not a Randolph tax payer but I am a taxpayer, and, of course I am concerned about job security. Having said that, I must clarify what I said. I did not say that the people of Randolph who voted this down were ignorant people. I am saying that they were ignorant of the all the facts that were necessary to make a decision. I was also saying that there may be misconceptions about the project. I neither stated that the bus garage is a good or bad idea. I was merely telling Mrs. Moritz the information I had heard so that she can be better informed about what the community was saying. Although I do not live in Randolph, I do love your children and I would like to see the best for them. In my opinion, bus garages don’t add or subtract from a child’s education but we certainly need safe buses to transport them to our school. I apologize if you construed my blog to be hurtful to the people of Randolph.
Dan- Interesting perspective… I am curious, are you a teacher? Do you live in the Randolph Central School District? (are you a tax payer?) Are you concerned about your job security? I am one of the people who you are suggesting is ignorant and who also was one of the MAJORITY who voted the proposition down. I have worked as a mechanic most of my life and have been involved with construction projects as well. I really would like to know, would you pay $1.4 million dollars for a 2 bay garage on your property? If not, why should the tax payers of Randolph or NY State assume this burden? How do you feel this project will enhance education in our district? In this era of consolidation of services at the district and village level, I do not support feel this is a responsible use of funds.
Dan-
Thanks for bringing out two of the points that some of our citizens may be following. First, it’s worth saying again that there is no way that any member of the BOE stands to profit from this or any project. That’s an impossibility–we are considering an addition to our current garage on school property. And just for the record, BOE members are residents who stick their necks out, devote hours of personal time and dedication in service to the district with no remuneration. Let’s keep the issue clear.
Second, I know 1.4 million is a lot of money. It’s a two bay mechanics facility, including an SED approved lift, an SED required handicapped bathroom, and a new roof and lighting to the current garage. We are funding it with state money dedicated to building/renovation in schools. Our tax dollars contribute to that funding so it makes sense to me that it comes back to our local schools–not just other schools across the state. That will be approximately 83% of the funding with the other 17% coming from reserves that the district already has in hand approved by taxpayers for projects such as this one. No additional cost. I can’t control the SED requirements and believe it or not, $1.4 is a reasonable project that just gets us to what we need.
$250 per day PLUS the salaries of the drivers to transport seven buses back and forth to the Catt/LV facility on Monday (and every month), the insurance rider to cover us in someone else’s building, the mechanic who has to stay there all day with the DOT inspector PLUS all of the work we’ll send somewhere else that we can’t do in our small bay without a lift. That is at an additional cost to the district.
Thanks for putting it out there Dan.
Kim
I was talking with a citizen of Randolph and I got two bits of information from him that I thought were interesting regarding this subject. The first point he made was that it would take an awful lot of $250.00 days to reach 1.4 million dollars. Obviously, we could send a bus every year to be inspected and never come close to spending 1.4 million dollars. His second point is that the community believes that there is a board member who stands to make a good deal of money on this whole transaction. I realize that this has nothing to do with the topic but that is what people in Randolph think. As I suggested before, the only way to fight ignorance is education. I am talking about the education of a community. False notions have to be confronted, and in a vigorous way! As I also said, if the community had come to your meeting or heard the discussion on the web, they would have voted differently.
Melissa,
Hmmm. Why won’t they vote yes? Now there’s the million dollar question. I guess the reasons could be as numerous and diverse as the taxpayers who voted no. I would venture to say the reasons include a lack of understanding of the problems in the current mechanics bays, voter fatigue with all of the projects we’ve had going here for 10+ years, anger over a property purchase proposition that was defeated in May 2008 and the Fall of 2008, fear of any increase in taxes (even though there was none) with the economy as it is, and lack of trust.
One of our goals now is to get out as much information as possible to help people better understand and begin to trust us. Several of our own employees didn’t vote so I know I didn’t do a good enough job of getting the word out. The BOE hasn’t decided if we’ll put it up again, but with a one vote margin and this as the best solution, how can I not?
Good to hear from you Melissa–stay well.
Kimberly
Best of luck to you, Kim. The solution seems so simple, and yet so hard. I think you have to put it up for another vote. It is the right thing for the taxpayers. Why won’t they vote yes?