Of the 144 buses belonging to the Lamar County School District – which run 108 routes per day throughout the district’s 19 schools – 15 are lacking the comfort of air conditioning amidst the summer heat.
To remedy that, district officials are placing advertisements for bids for an undetermined number of replacement buses to phase out the current ones with no reprieve from the current temperatures. Those numbers have stretched past 100 degrees several times in the last few weeks and necessitated multiple “excessive heat warnings” from the National Weather Service in Jackson.
“(The buses with no air conditioning) are on the very shortest routes that we have, but we’re trying to reduce that number to zero as soon as possible,” district superintendent Steven Hampton said. “I don’t know how many we’ll be able to purchase at this time, because the availability of buses varies.
“We bought 11 buses last year, and spent $1.2 million on buses, and we’ll be well north of that this year with the availability of getting those buses in.”
Although there is not an exact date for the arrival of the buses, Hampton hopes to have them in and ready some time before Christmas.
“Let’s just say as soon as possible,” he said. “It’s a process; you’ve got to follow the purchasing laws and things like that. Our goal is to reduce the number of un-air-conditioned buses as soon as possible, because it will be hot next school year as well.
“When you have a fleet the size we do, and you run the number of routes we do, it’s a matter of the money and a matter of getting those buses in.”
That problem can be complicated by the fact that the school district deals with two or three different bus companies to meet demand for the vehicles, making the acquisition process a little more difficult.
“We (had previously) ordered a bus, one of our larger snub-nose 71-passenger buses, and it took over a year to get it in,” Hampton said. “So it’s a matter of availability … and they’re on back order.
“But I want the public to know that we’re very well aware that it’s hot, and we’re doing everything we can from a financial standpoint. But also, we’re at the mercy of manufacturers to get them in.”
Between the district’s regular bus routes and extracurricular activities, its buses travel more than 1 million miles per year. Depending on several factors, a new school bus can cost in the range of $125,000.
“Every once in a while, we’ll find one for about $100,000,” Hampton said. “But then if you start adding (costs for) special needs students with lifts and things like that, the 71-passenger larger buses that we’re trying to purchase are more.
“So you can get up to the $150,000 range quick with some of the specialty buses. It adds up quick.”
