Bristol, Va., School Board Discusses Cost Cutting

By David McGee
Staff Writer / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: July 11, 2008

BRISTOL, Va. – Skyrocketing fuel prices could force city school leaders to consider combining bus routes, reducing field trips or possibly switching to a four-day week.

The city School Board broached those and other topics on Thursday during its annual retreat.

While the board established a series of goals for the upcoming year, members also spent a considerable amount of time discussing the potential impact of rising fuel costs.

“I think we have to explore all our options,” Chairman Ronald Cameron said. “The country is in an energy crisis with no end in sight, and diesel is the highest thing out there.”

The city’s entire 27-bus fleet runs on diesel fuel and averages about 5 to 6 miles per gallon, said Terry Caldwell, the division’s director of support services.

“With diesel over $5 a gallon right now, we’re discussing the issues of bus routes,” Caldwell told the board. “I will tell you I am concerned. It’s hard to establish forecasts for next April or May – it’s like trying to forecast the weather.”

Board member Eric Clark asked what other board members thought about a four-day school week.

“If we eliminate one day of transportation a week, that would be a 20 percent savings,” Clark said.

Board members agreed the concept was worth considering and directed Caldwell to calculate how much fuel is used daily and what kind of savings could be realized by making some of the possible changes.

“We’re a small system of 17.5 square miles, where Washington County [Va.] is 300 square miles,” Caldwell said. “That’s a tremendous advantage, but the bottom line is it [fuel] still affects our budget.”

Because school divisions are required to provide fixed amounts of instruction time, a four-day week would necessitate longer school days or extending the school year.

“We couldn’t make any kind of change this coming year,” Cameron said after the meeting. “Unless things got real, real bad, I don’t anticipate us making a mid-year change. But we do need to start planning and explore that as a possibility.”

While being a smaller school division means the city has to spend less on transportation, it has less to spend than larger divisions, Cameron said.

Clark also urged the board to consider realigning some school zones if it would reduce transportation costs.

Fuel prices could also affect scheduling field trips, athletic practices and games and all other events that involve busing students, board members agreed.

“We’ll probably need to look at scheduling of athletics,” Clark said. “We’ll probably wind up playing teams that are closer rather than going farther to play what may be better competition.”

In other matters, the board established some goals for the upcoming year, including improving graduation and attendance rates; improving the way it evaluates superintendents and board members; and finding a new office building for the school administration.

The 100-year-old Oak Street building doesn’t comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and needs other improvements, school leaders previously said. City officials told school leaders earlier this year that a new building was unlikely given the city’s economic circumstances.

“I think we should try and identify some potential sites this year,” Clark said. “We could use this whole school year to find a place and a way to obtain financing.”

Cameron said the board should keep the issue “in front” of the City Council, noting earlier this week the city agreed to purchase a home near Sugar Hollow Park to house administrators of the city’s parks and recreation department.

| (276) 645-2532