Schools Ready For E-Buses

When Jeff Davis County Schools’ new electric school buses — e-buses — arrive later this school year, the Schools Transportation Department will be ready.
That’s what Facilities and Operations Director Adam Kirby told the school board Monday night at its monthly meeting. A grant paid the cost for $1.2 million in e-buses and charging stations. The charging stations have recently been installed at the Transportation Department.
Kirby gave the board an update on the Transportation Department on behalf of Transportation Director Alvin Merritt and Assistant Director Johnny Bohannon.
Kirby said National Bus Safety Week is coming up and he informed the board that the annual state bus inspections, conducted every summer, were completed with no major problems discovered. He said the COVID pandemic hit some of the school system bus drivers hard but the staff is now back up to pre-COVID strength
For years, the school system has been purchasing a few air conditioned buses each year and, Kirby said, with the latest delivery of new buses, the school system now has all buses equipped with air conditioning.
School Superintendent Dr. Chris Roppe added that there had been some issues with the fueling system and it turned out those issues were due to high temperatures over the last few months. Those issues have been corrected. He added that roads damaged by Hurricane Idelia had been addressed by the county road department and he commended Merritt and Bohannon for their work keeping the bus system in operation despite the storm damage.
Finance Director Betty Corbitt gave the board a financial update and the Board approved the FY25 capital outlay projections as recommended by Dr. Roppe.
Corbitt pointed out that Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax collections were high for the latest collection period, probably due to back-to-school spending as the new school year approached.