Marion board hears about CIS; buys carpet, vans
Linda Ogden, executive director of Communities in Schools of Marion County, presented a report to the Board of Education of USD 408 at the board's special meeting Friday.
The board decided to continue funding CIS at the current level of $1,465 per year.
Gerry Henderson, superintendent of USD 408, said, "We get a lot of bang for our buck from it. It's a collaborative program, and it works because of Linda Ogden. It makes a dollar go a long way."
The board also awarded a contract, for $7,300, to The County Seat, Marion, for replacement of orange-brown carpet in five rooms and a hallway at Marion High School. Classic in McPherson had bid $7,450.
The board decided to buy two Dodge Caravans, for $9,988 each, to replace two Suburbans. The Caravans have been used by the U.S. Postal Service. Each has fewer than 25,000 miles on it, and has cruise control.
The Suburbans, a 1992 and a 1993, have about 140,000 miles on each of them. Martin Tice, USD 408 business manager, said the district may be able to sell them for about $2,000 each.
Two 1995 buses built by the Carpenter company have been taken out of service, Tice and Henderson said. There has been a problem with welds on the buses. Roof-support welds have been implicated in an April school-bus crash in Florida.
Repair of the two USD 408 buses would be costly. They would have to be almost torn apart. Tice recommended replacing the two buses now from dealer stock so as not to wait for a custom order
The two Carpenter buses have 92,000 and 100,000 miles on their odometers, and would have been up for replacement in two years anyway, Tice said.
