Published: May 17, 2009 09:29 pm      

School district to purchase new buses

DUNCAN — In February, Duncan residents went to the voting precincts and passed a bond issue for new buses for the Duncan Public School District.

During Tuesday’s regular meeting, the Duncan Board of Education approved putting those funds into action. The board approved purchasing nine route buses and two activity buses for a total of $910,968 to be paid with the bond money.

The route buses being replaced with the nine new buses had about or more than 100,000 miles. One bus had about 150,000 miles.

To purchase the buses, the district opened bidding. Transportation Director John Hopper said bids were taken from companies in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas.

Superintendent Sherry Labyer said she is excited for the district to get activity buses because it will provide a more comfortable trip for teams, whether they be sports or academics. Many of the smaller school districts neighboring Duncan already have activity buses.

“It’s a first for Duncan Schools,” Labyer said.

Later in the meeting, the board approved declaring the nine older buses as surplus property. With the money made on those vehicles, the district will be able to purchase cameras for the route buses and DVD players for the activity buses.

In other action:

• The board approved purchasing hybrid fire alarm and burglar systems for Will Rogers Pre-Kindergarten, Mark Twain Elementary and Irving Elementary at a cost of $23,463.32 to be paid with QZAB funds, and to purchase a hybrid fire alarm and burglar system for Plato Elementary at a cost of $11,791 to be paid out of the building fund.

• Members tabled the drug testing policy changes because Labyer said it wasn’t ready.

• Computers will be purchased for several schools in the district. These schools include 26 computers for Duncan Middle School for $24,902.54 to be paid with Title I money, 19 computers for the Woodrow Wilson computer lab for $18,198.01 out of the technology bond, and six computers for Woodrow Wilson for $5,746.74 out of site maintenance money.

• The board approved using B&B Bathroom Partitions to install bathroom partitions as part of the remodeling of the old portion of Emerson Elementary. This project will cost about $8,432 and will be paid out of the building site fund.

• JLG Vending was approved for vending machine purposes at Duncan High School and EDGE Academy.