District seeks ways to trim transportation expenses

GUSTINE – Just like commuters who feel the pain of soaring fuel costs, the Gustine Unified School District’s budget is being hit hard at the pump.

And just like commuters who face hard choices about making ends meet with limited dollars, the school district is making several changes and may consider others to help offset the expense of transportation.

According to a transportation report presented to the school board recently, district buses rolled up a total of nearly 148,000 miles and burned more than 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel during the past year.

During the school year ahead, the district is planning several steps to curtail travel and streamline efficiency.

One major shift will come at the elementary grade levels, where students in grades K-1 will no longer be released earlier than upper grades.

“The biggest thing that we did was eliminate our 2 o’clock route,” Superintendent Gail McWilliams remarked. “Our K-1 students will go to school until 2:30 instead of 2 p.m., which will eliminate a whole set of routes. In the past, the drivers would pick up the K-1 students, and then come back and pick up the 2-5 students.”

The new format will save driver time as well as mileage, she pointed out.

District officials also evaluated country routes extensively. A small number of students were assigned to another school, with their parents’ blessing, to avoid situations in which buses criss-crossed on routes.

Extra-curricular activities will also feel restrictions.

“We have eliminated longer athletic trips, and we are on a schedule this year which puts (athletic teams) closer to home, which is to our benefit,” McWilliams told the school board. “I also have a band schedule, and will tell them which ones the district will pay for, and which they need to pay for if they want to attend.”

Not every transportation expense lends itself to reductions.

As a “transportation only” campus, Gustine Middle School students must be either bused or taken by private vehicle to and from school each day.

McWilliams said the district will continue studying its transportation options. She said the district may have to reconsider its in-town routes, and in a worst-case scenario could consider charging a nominal fee for home-to-school transportation.

Board members and administrators say charging a fee would only be considered as an option of last resort.

In other action at its July 16 board meeting, trustees:

• Reviewed and approved several school handbooks, but left some topics open for future discussion.

Board President Christine Parreira asked that the board further debate a proposed policy which would allow school-related hats to be worn at Gustine High. In recent years, she noted, hats have been banned altogether at the campus.

Parreira also said she wants school staff to take a “zero tolerance” approach to the school’s policy prohibiting excessive displays of affection.

“It has gotten way out of hand, and it is not appropriate,” she commented. “It is happening between classes, before school and after school.”

Other board members agreed that they, too, had seen instances of inappropriate behavior by students.

“I don’t think we’re any different than any other high school,” McWilliams said. “It is the culture we live in. It is an enforcement issue for everybody.”

Board members also pointed out that the handbook states seniors caught taking part in school vandalism or school pranks will lose the privilege of participating in senior activities, including graduation.

• Approved an $86,000 contract with Data Path for technology support during the year. That contract includes two days a week in the district as well as a remote service.

• Awarded a $196,000 contract for re-roofing of the district office, high school gymnasium and portable classrooms at the district office and high school.

• Awarded a $3,440 contract with Kontraband Interdiction and Detection Services, Inc (KIDS), for drug dog services for the coming school year.