District will upgrade fleet with three buses; Substitute teacher service makes report

 Purchase of three school buses was approved at Monday night’s Clear Lake School Board meeting.
District leaders considered two different options to upgrade its aging fleet of buses. Ultimately the Board was to buy a new 77-passenger bus and two formerly leased 77 and 65 passenger buses. The cost for the three buses will be $207,600, however the District will trade in vehicles worth $45,000 to drop the cost to $162,600.

 The district last purchased buses two years ago, according to district leaders. The expenditure is expected to come out of the district’s capital projects or PPEL fund.
In other business Monday, the Board received its first report of the school year from Kelly Educational Staffing Services, which is in charge of finding substitute teachers and para-educators for the district. A quarterly report submitted by KESS showed the district spent $43,203 to KESS.
Numbers compiled by Leerar stated the cost of the district finding substitutes for the same time period would have been $35,271. However, the district number does not include the estimated $4,300 cost of Aesop software, which is used as an automated substitute placement and management system, or the cost of background checks on potential substitutes.
In August, School Board members pledged to track spending with KESS more closely during the 2014 school year after it was determined the district spent more than $20,000 above what it would have cost to secure its own substitutes. Board members are now requesting monthly reports from KESS and have asked the company to include specific numbers for substitutes needed, along with the numbers for requests filled and not filled.