|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The local school board has approved the purchase of a larger, wheelchair-accessible school bus that will reduce crowding on a Harpswell route.
The Maine School Administrative District 75 Board of Directors authorized the $159,350 purchase at its Sept. 10 meeting.
The new, 66-passenger bus will replace a 48-passenger bus that is filled “three to a seat” most days, district Business Manager Evan Howard told the board.
Like the current bus, the new one has a motorized platform near the back on the right side that can raise and lower to allow a wheelchair user to get on and off the bus.
Superintendent Heidi O’Leary told the Anchor that the current bus has reached both the 10-year and 125,000-mile marks, the points at which the U.S. Department of Education recommends replacing a bus.
The school board had already budgeted for the purchase of a new bus as part of the district’s replacement schedule. O’Leary said the district typically replaces one to four buses each year.
The unanimous vote approved a five-year lease-to-own agreement for the bus through Maine Community Bank. Howard told the board the bus would be put into service as soon as Maine-based O’Connor Motor Co. delivers it.
The district is also planning to purchase a new minibus this year, but Howard said that one is still being built. He doesn’t expect it to be ready until October or November. The minibus will not be used in Harpswell.
