Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Ironwood — While no decision has been made, the Ironwood Area Schools’ Board of Eduction heard the case for privatizing the district’s school buses.
“Our goal in any district we go to is that when you ask, ‘How’s your transportation?’ They say, ‘What transportation,’” said Greg Herfindahl. “My feeling is the school district’s job is to educate, our job is to transport.”
Herfindahl, who owns Schilleman Bus Service of Eagle River, told the board privatizing the busing service had a number of benefits; including the opportunity to raise capital through selling the equipment and reducing the administrative costs and headaches that come with overseeing busing.
He also said the district would no longer have to worry about budgeting for unexpected repairs or any labor dispute issues if they went with a private company.
Schilleman serves a number of communities in Wisconsin and Michigan — including Hurley, Watersmeet and the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District.
If the district went with the company, Herfindahl said it would cost the district $300,000 a year for pick-up and drop-off services each day plus the daily trip to Gogebic Community College for students taking classes there.
For co-curricular trips inside the city of Ironwood, the district would pay $55 per run. If the trips left the city, the fee would be $16-per-hour and a charge of $1.70 per mile — as long as fuel remained under $4.30 a gallon. If fuel increased above that cost, Herfindahl told the board the company would charge an extra penny per mile for every five cents the price over $4.30.
These additional trips would cover school activities such as sports travel and field trips.
“For us to do it, these are the numbers we need,” Herfindahl told the board. “We need to run the kind of equipment we run, that’s just the kind of business we run.”
While Herfindahl argued contracting busing out had the potential to reduce some costs and remove one responsibility from district administrators, it’s unclear whether the move makes financial sense for the district.
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Tim Kolesar told the board the district spent approximately $287,000 on transportation last year — which included everything from fuel, to repairs to wages and retirement costs. He estimated the district spent roughly $269,000 on transportation the year before.
If the district contracted with his company, Herfindahl said there would be a three-year rolling contract that automatically renewed each July 1. There would also be a 2.5 percent increase in the cost for both extra trips and the daily bus service each year. He said he would want the district to eventually enter into a five-year rolling contract.
“When we go to a rolling contract, the contract never ends unless one of us requests it to end or open it up,” Herfindahl said.
Herfindahl said the district would have until early April to decide if they wanted the company to begin service at the beginning of next year, as it took time to get the pieces in places to serve the district.
In other action:
—Kevin Moyer, with Xerox, met with the board to discuss staff complaints with copiers jamming too frequently. No action was taking but a variety of solutions were brought up, including more service calls to create the paper trail needed to replace a defective machine and increased training on how to use the copiers without causing jams.
—The board directed Kolesar to schedule a free workshop through the Michigan Association of School Boards on what school boards need to know before beginning the process of searching for a superintendent.
—The board accepted Mary Trcka’s retirement as a paraprofessional. She has worked in the district in various roles for 36 years, according to information given to the board.
—The board voted to renew the contract with West Interactive Service Corporation for the district’s SchoolMessenger service for another year. The cost of the service — which notifies parents and the public when school is cancelled and passes along other information — cost the district $1,549 last year. The new price is $33 higher, due to an increase in the number of students in the district.
—The board also voted to renew its contract with the GOISD for career and technical education classes at Luther L. Wright K-12 School. This includes the district’s welding and management support classes, according to information given to the board. According to the contract, the GOISD will pay Ironwood $24,658 for the services.
