歪歪漫画

BEMIDJI 鈥� The final Bemidji Area 歪歪漫画s Board of Education meeting before the start of the 2023-2024 school year oversaw a number of topics, including addressing a need for school bus drivers throughout the district.

District Business Director Ashley Eastridge informed the board that during the last fiscal year, the district experienced driver shortages averaging eight open routes each day, which equals about 14% of the district鈥檚 total routes. As many as 13 open routes occurred on three occasions, as well.

鈥淭hese situations have put a significant amount of pressure on our transportation staff to not cancel routes,鈥� Eastridge said.

With transportation being a mandated service the district must provide, the district鈥檚 transportation department hosted a job fair in an effort to recruit new drivers this past June, though this resulted in no new applicants.

As a result, Eastridge presented an addendum to a school bus transportation contract with Bemidji Bus Lines that would provide three additional regular bus routes for the upcoming year, costing the district around $171,000.

These routes will serve students in Horace May, Lincoln and Northern Elementary attendance areas.

鈥淎fter fiscal year 2023-2024, the district will evaluate the need to contract out these routes going forward and if necessary, obtain quotes for future years,鈥� Eastridge added.

Superintendent Jeremy Olson emphasized the statewide scope of workforce shortages as they relate to school bus drivers, a problem that鈥檚 not unique to Bemidji Area 歪歪漫画s.

鈥淵ou can drive down any road in any town and you鈥檒l see, 鈥榖us drivers wanted,鈥欌�� Olson said. 鈥淭his is a complex issue and what we鈥檙e trying to do 鈥� is start the year off as full as we possibly can, knowing that there will be hindrances and challenges throughout the year. We don鈥檛 want to get into a spot where we have to delay routes because of drivers.

鈥淯ntil we have more drivers, we鈥檙e going to continue experiencing challenges, so we鈥檙e doing the very best with the situation we鈥檙e given. It鈥檚 a complex problem and it鈥檚 going to take a lot of creative solutions to get out of it. This is one step we鈥檙e presenting to lessen the load.鈥�

After a bit more discussion, the board unanimously approved the addendum to its contract with Bemidji Bus Lines.

After the board鈥檚 facilities committee was approached with a proposal to purchase Central Elementary 歪歪漫画, the board unanimously voted to declare the school as surplus property as a 鈥渇irst step鈥� before any potential negotiations or sale. No additional information was provided about the nature of the proposal.

Central was closed as a cost-saving measure for the district following the 2020-2021 school year.

The board was also set to discuss the district鈥檚 2023-2028 strategic plan, but this was tabled to a future meeting due to the board not having an up-to-date draft of the plan.

The full meeting can be viewed on the

The next regular board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 18, in the district board room.