RATHDRUM, Idaho — An aging school bus fleet may force a North Idaho school district to alter start times for some schools. The Lakeland School District says it may revert to having different age groups of students on the same buses to fix the problem as well.
Lakeland leaders say that several buses in its fleet are outdated and beyond their average lifespan. As a result, the district's two mechanics are struggling to keep up with repairs, causing fewer buses to be available.
"A [new] bus is about $100,000. And we just didn't have the money to be able to go out and buy buses," said Assistant Superintendent Lisa Sexton.
Lakeland's bus woes began during the Great Recession when state budget cuts forced the district to defer bus maintenance, Sexton said. The district forewent purchasing new buses instead of cutting jobs.
Since then, district buses have been sidelined with repairs. At the same time, the district has no available substitute bus drivers, making the bus situation more difficult, according to Sexton.
"We just have people who do whatever it takes to get the job done. And we're lucky that we have great people," said Sexton of the district's bus drivers and mechanics.
In order to use the limited amount of buses more efficiently, the district is considering two notable options, including double routing. Under that plan, start and end times would be altered for some schools to allow bus drivers to drop off students from one school before coming back and picking up students from a separate school.
Notably, the proposed plan would have elementary schools start at 9 a.m. instead of 8:30 a.m., and then let students out at 3:30 p.m. instead of 3:00 p.m. That would allow bus drivers to shuttle junior high and high school students first before then transporting elementary students.
"We need 50 minutes between the high school and junior high kids being dropped off at their schools, the elementary kids needing to be at school," Sexton said.
Another proposal to make better use of the buses would see elementary and secondary students sharing the same buses. Under the plan to mix students on buses, school schedules wouldn't be affected.
Sexton noted that the district mixed elementary and secondary students on buses more than 20 years ago, but changed the practice at the request of concerned parents.
"We've spent all year brainstorming 'How do we deal with this particular situation?'" Sexton said. "It definitely has been weighing heavily on us this year."
Sexton emphasized that, at this point, no formal decisions have been made and the district is discussing possibilities. Lakeland leaders plan to solicit input from district parents before deciding how to move forward.
Sexton said that the district hopes to make a formal decision by the end of this school year.