Published: August 14, 2009 01:25 pm      

West Clark Community Schools faces traffic woes

More afternoon riders causes crowding on some buses

SELLERSBURG — Traffic congestion from parents dropping off students and bus overcrowding may seem to contradict one another, but both are issues two campuses at West Clark Community Schools are dealing with.

Eric Reed, director of transportation, told the school board Thursday night that the Henryville campus as well as the Silver Creek one are having the problems, because of too many parents dropping off students in the morning and too many students getting on the buses in the afternoon.

Reed said that leaves drivers struggling to find room for the children.

“We’re tight,” Reed said of the space in the afternoon. “We cannot get an accurate kid count and we’re scrambling in the afternoon because the numbers are different.”

Reed said the afternoon congestion on the buses may ease as practices start for various sports this fall. However, until then he is working to find out a solution — which may involve stopping the tradition of transporting children that don’t go to West Clark, such as those who attend St. Paul’s Catholic School. Reed will meet with Teresa Guthrie, board vice president, soon to talk about that and other possibilities.

After the meeting, Reed said he’d rather all children ride the bus to school, since it is safer than other vehicles. If all children were to ride, he said more buses would have to be purchased to increase his fleet.

However, he said he’s about 13 new buses behind schedule already, since the corporation is on a 10-year replacement plan. Right now, he’s got one 1994, 1996 and four 1997 buses that are past their due date to be replaced. Other buses are always needed as backups, in case something happens to another one, such as if it were to break down.

Reed said he hopes to have one of those replaced this year.

Part of his transportation budget, along with capital projects and general fund money, will have to go toward bringing the debt service and pension bond debt funds out of the red to the black, according to R. Mac Dyer, associate superintendent. Dyer said that’s needed to be done temporarily since the county is late in getting the property tax dollars to the school corporation. Once that is paid to West Clark, the money will be returned to the funds where it was borrowed from.



FUTURE OF FOOTBALL

Linda Uhl, who has talked to the board on numerous occasions about starting a football program at Henryville, told the board that the interest in playing is growing. She said 34 high school-aged players have set up a team with six volunteer coaches. That team will play scrimmage games with Charlestown and New Albany high schools, according to Uhl.



NO MORE FIRST PLACE

Denise Bessler, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, told the board that a change made years ago is finally taking effect with this year’s seniors throughout the district.

This graduation there will be no valedictorian or salutatorian.

She said there will be rankings students will be able to refer to for college applications and scholarships. However, the top two spots will no longer be recognized at graduation.

• The next school board meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Sept. 10.