I understand the Madera Unified School Board is considering eliminating the position of transportation director, and I feel compelled to share my thoughts. I worked for over 36 years in the MUSD Transportation Department, the last 27 years as an accounting technician. I have worked for a number of directors and supervisors over the years, some great, some mediocre and some just there to receive a salary.

The current director, Sam Armentrout, has established his abilities to cut costs, generate income for the district, and purchase new equipment, (currently 24 buses fueled by compressed natural gas) with grant funding at minimal cost to the district. Mr. Armentrout came to the district with the qualifications to direct the transportation department, and he has done an exceptional job. If the School Board chooses to eliminate his position, I assure you any cost savings realized by eliminating his salary and benefits will soon be lost.

Due to Mr. Armentrout’s diligence, overtime has been virtually eliminated and all employees have been made accountable for their time. Charter bus costs have been drastically cut and routes monitored, all at a tremendous savings to MUSD.
I do not feel that eliminating Mr. Armentrout’s position would save any money in the short or long term.

I feel the transportation department has taken a tremendous hit with the budget cuts. I also realize that transportation is probably a large drain on a school district’s General Fund. But eliminating high school transportation is a mistake.

Many families have children in high school and elementary school, so a bus will stop for only the elementary students? Are the parents in the district that live 15 to 20 miles from town prepared to drive 30 to 80 miles per day to transport their children to school? Adjust bell times at the schools. The transportation department is located within a half mile of both high schools. Each and every bus returns to the transportation yard after its route. Is it more cost-effective to return to town with an empty bus? After years of calculating cost per mile on school buses, I know any savings would be minimal. This plan may work for cities with public transportation, but it would only jeopardize the safety of the students in our district.

These recommended cuts by the district administration and the School Board would be a grave injustice to the community, the taxpayers, and the children of Madera Unified.

Luann Owen,
Madera

This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 12:06 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.