PC School Board approves sale of surplus bus

By Becky Uehling

Grant Tribune-Sentinel

After much discussion at its Monday, Nov. 21 meeting, the Perkins County School’s Board of Directors voted four to two to declare a 1999 Blue Bird Bus (Snub Nose) excess property and direct the administration to sell it, while retaining the 1999 Blue Bird Motor Coach Activity Bus (Old Plainsmen Activity Bus) as a back-up activity bus. 

The school’s fleet of transportation vehicles includes five yellow Blue Bird Buses, two Blue Bird Motor Coach Activity Buses, three full-sized vans, two minivans, and a car.

With the purchase of a new activity bus last spring, and the reduction of the school’s bus routes in 2020 to only three feeder routes mainly on the highway, the school found itself with two buses that were not being regularly used, Picquet said. 

Upon bringing the question to the board of what to do with the buses, PC Superintendent Phillip Picquet said he felt the school needed to retain at least one of the buses as reliable back-up for activities. 

After seeking the opinions of a few bus drivers concerning which bus would be the best to keep, Picquet suggested to the board that if the board were to keep a back-up, he recommended that it be the old Plainsmen motor coach, as it is seems to be more reliable. 

Discussion was held by the board concerning if there was a need to retain a bus, the reliability of each bus, and what return the school could get if the buses were sold. Because of the market and economy, neither bus would bring much, Picquet said. 

Picquet said currently, the school could get around $10,000 for the motor coach, and less for the snub-nose. 

After more discussion, a motion was made by Jayson Bishop, with a second by Angela Gloy, to allow the snub-nose bus to be declared as surplus and put up for sale. After the motion, Amy Kroeker questioned if there was really a good reason to get rid of either of the buses at this time. However, the decision was made to declare the 1999 Blue Bird as surplus and sold with board members Bishop, Gloy, Val Foster and Holly Cornelius voting yes, while Chris Fryzek and Kroeker voted no. 

Switch Failure

In other business, the board heard from Picquet and Technology Director Renee Seiler on the failure of the school’s Internet during the week of Nov. 14 because of aging switches and slow supply-chains. 

“We were not in a good situation for a while,” Picquet said of the day the switches failed. 

An Internet switch is another name of network switch. It is a critical component in many business networks, for the fact that they connect PCs, printers, assess points, phones, lights, servers and other hardware. 

Picquet said the school had purchased replacements for the school’s aging switches this past summer. However, because of slow supply chains, the switches were back ordered and not set to arrive until 2023, he said. Unfortunately, the school had two switches go out at the high school on Nov. 11, which took down part of the district’s network, he said. 

“We worked with our ESU to install two refurbished switches and got the system back up and running,” he said. 

Screen for Elementary Gym

In other technology news, discussion was held on the possibility of purchasing a large screen for the elementary gym to be used for such events as the Veteran’s Day program.

Seiler said she has several vendors that she could get prices from for such a screen and report back to the board. 

Board member Bishop stated he was not opposed to the idea of purchasing a screen for the gym, but questioned if the portable screen at the high school could work. 

“I realize that (portable) screen doesn’t work well in the Pritchett gym, but in the smaller gyms it might work,” he said. There was agreement that the portable screen should be considered for such events. 

Gym Bleachers and Stage Curtains

 The board discussed the topics of bleacher replacement and new curtains for the stage both in the Pritchett gym.

According to Picquet, the board and administration have worked to develop a long term-facilities plan, prioritizing where upgrades and repairs need to be made, and what could wait long-term. One of the items that is reaching priority stage is the replacement of the nearly 50-year-old bleachers in the Pritchett gym, especially because replacement parts for them are getting harder and harder to purchase, he said. 

Picquet said the board has not come to a definitive plan concerning replacing the bleachers, but are looking at various schematics drawn-up, with much of the decision revolving around cost. 

“This has involved conversations of replacing the bleachers in planned increments, replacing them all at once, replacing the bleachers and reviewing possible creative ways to use the space behind the second tier of bleachers,” he said. “We are still in our infancy of discussions and the facilities committee will continue to explore options and get pricing for bleachers.”

Replacement of the 51-year-old stage curtains in the Pritchett gym was also on the agenda during the meeting. The board looked at fabric samples for the potential new curtains during the meeting, with no decision made. 

Jr. High Cross Country survey

Athletic Director Dean Friedel was present during the meeting to report on the ongoing discussion of potentially adding Jr. High Cross Country to the mix of sports at the school.

Friedel stated a survey had been sent out to the Jr High students to determine their interest. Survey results will be presented at the board’s December meeting. 

Board President Fryzek stated he thought the addition of the sport would be ideal because no additional coach would have to be hired, and no additional travel arrangements made, since the Jr. High team attends all of the same meets as the High School. 

Friedel said it wasn’t the additional cost of the program that he would be worried about, but whether the Jr. and Sr. high teams could meld together. 

“That is the first thing that comes to my mind even before cost,” Friedel said. 

Board member Gloy said she was in favor of the addition as well, stating she felt the program would work well at Perkins County. 

Other Topics

Other discussion was held by the board on the school’s recent audit, state NSCAS scores, an addition of an upper level computer class to the district, along with requirements for various federal grants the school received because of the COVID lock downs. Please look in upcoming editions of the Tribune for more information on these topics.