Busing dilemma is not unique to the Laurel area

— Angie Steffen 

Laurel Advocate

LAUREL — Laurel-Concord-Coleridge School Board members will soon be making a decision whether to continue to operate their bus fleet locally or hand the reins to Mid States School Bus Inc. of Wayne.

It’s a decision many area school districts have found themselves in.

Finding enough drivers to run the routes has been a huge factor for many schools to make the switch.

LCC is currently searching for more bus drivers.

Some of the districts that have had to make that decision in the past and now employ Mid States include Battle Creek, Winnebago, Plattsmouth, Crete, Conestoga, Columbus Schools,  Fairbury and Wayne. Homer has just signed an agreement with the company.

Running busses, managing the routes, and hiring and managing the bus drivers can be a daunting task for schools, said Dean Carroll, general manager of Mid States.

The operation of buses takes away from a school staff’s main concern which is educating students, he said.

“The main reason that schools go with our service is, it takes busing off the administration’s plate,” Carroll said.  “If they don’t have to run a bus service it frees them up for other things,” he said, adding that his company relieves the school from the task of training and finding drivers. 

Wayne Community Schools has been outsourcing its bussing needs to Mid States School Bus since 1992. 

“In my experience, this has been a very positive relationship that provides quality transportation for the students. Not only does Mid States Bus provide excellent service for the students of our district, outsourcing to them allows me as a superintendent and our other building administrators the ability to take care of other aspects of our jobs in a more effective manner,’’ said  Wayne Supt. Mark Lenihan.

Randolph Public School made the decision to keep their bus operation in-house. 

“The main reason was cost.  We estimated we can provide our own busing for about 75 percent of the cost of leasing the service out.  That was the main reason.  The other factor was that much of what we would be purchasing would be exactly how it’s being done right now.’’ said Randolph Supt. Jeff Hoesing. “The plus side of leasing this service is that they have to find the drivers and maintain the fleet, which have proven to be a headache, especially finding good, steady drivers.”

Hoesing said Randolph is in very good shape right now with both its fleet and its bus driving staff, “but we went through a period last spring and early this fall where we were stretched very thin, both for drivers and keeping the buses rolling.”

Administration and teachers with bus licenses had to do a lot of the driving,” Hoesing said. 

“Mid-States helped us out a great deal during that time by leasing us a route bus on occasion, even though we had decided earlier not to purchase their services. We do lease a driver and small vehicle from Mid-States for some Special Ed transportation,” he said.

Crofton, Creighton and Stuart are schools that also use a bus service, but not Mid States, according to Hoesing.

“Cost would be one of the main ones, plus keeping the drivers properly trained.  There’s been a lot of changes in the requirements to drive students.  It’s not difficult to carry out these initiatives but you have to keep great records on training and background checks,’’ Hoesing said. “Lastly, buses, like all other vehicles, are getting pretty sophisticated with lots of sensors and a computer that can leave you stranded.  You need a well-trained mechanic to keep them going or be fortunate enough to have a business in town that can service them and do it at the drop of a hat.  We’re lucky to have that.”

If the LCC School Board does decide to go with the service, the District would have to sign a three year contract, Supt. Jeremy Christiansen said. 

“This is an opportunity to consider for our district. We need to decide whether it is appropriate for our district at this point. The board could possibly act on the bus issue at their March meeting,” Christiansen said.

Carroll said switching to his service would make for a seamless transition for the school.

SEE BUSSES, Page 3