Transportation report presented to Rusk board

Mark Turney, director of transportation, presented a department review at the Oct. 8 meeting of the Rusk ISD board.

The Rusk ISD transportation Department is to provide safe, courteous, honest and efficient service to the district.

There are 22 regular bus routes, three special needs routes, one route for Nacogdoches Deaf Education and one route for the sheltered workshop. The school fleet is made up of 31 regular buses, 22 in regular use and nine substitute buses.

There are three regular special needs buses and one substitute bus. The district has one activity bus, one band bus, seven passenger vehicles including five regular use and two for very limited use. Also there is one ag truck, eight maintenance trucks and one wrecker.

The average age of the bus fleet is 6.9 years. The average of the regular use buses is 4.8 years and the average age of the substitute buses is 12.09 years. Buses range in age from one bought in 1991 to one bought in 2007.

The driving staff consists of 32 bus drivers; three bus aides and one Nacogdoches Deaf Education driver. Average driver age is 51. The youngest driver is 21 and the oldest is 76.

During the 2006-07 school year there was an average daily ridership of 984 regular students and 20 special needs student. Eighty-two students were transported between schools.

Bus care includes more than 2,400 exterior light bulbs, more than 2,500 lug nuts, 274 tires, 130 gallons of oil and 54 inspections stickers.

Rusk ISD covers 320 square miles, from near New Summerfield to near Alto and from the Neches River to the Angelina River.

Buses traveled 353,235 miles during the 2006-07 school year. This included 226,314 regular route miles; 60,015 field trip miles; 9,005 extended day miles; 1,351 summer school miles and 14,342 other miles.

The special needs vehicle miles included 70,869 miles with 37,516 on the bus and 33,353 in a car; 1,555 extra trip miles and 893 summer school miles. Passenger vehicle miles driven totaled 119,969. This included 27,706 car miles to Nacogdoches; 29,893 miles driven transporting students and 60,370 miles driven to workshops.

Fuel purchases included $92,235 for 45,000 gallons of diesel and $12,523 for 7,000 gallons of gasoline. Other expenses included $10,179 for contracted repair and maintenance; $4,906 for tires and batteries; $13,297 for bus parts and $135,982 for the purchase of two buses.

The 2007-08 transportation $851,445 department budget includes the purchase of three buses at a cost of $247,500; fuel, $166,000; payroll, $399,145 and $38,800 remaining line items.

"The greatest challenge I have is finding, training and retaining bus drivers. I expect to replace one long-term driver this year and will have to replace four more in the next two years.