The state of a Geary USD 475 activity bus…the Blue Jay bus….came under brief discussion during a Board of Education meeting this week in Junction City.

Board member Brian Field feels it needs to be looked at. “We have a four, soon to be five-year old bus, and our second bus I’m not exactly sure how old it is. But it might be time to get a newer front-line bus, and have something maybe a little more dependable, and also maybe use the newer bus as our second bus. We just need to take a good look at where we are. Safety is definitely an issue.”

Field confirmed there have been some breakdowns with the bus. “We had a few here this fall.” He  added they just want to ensure everyone gets to their necessary destination.

The Board was informed an activity bus of that sort can cost in the $250,000 range.

Superintendent Ron Walker stated the bus is assessed every year to determine its condition. “This year it had a couple of minor problems on trips that really we should not have had. One of the requests was to take a look at that, and we’ll do that between now and February. ”  Walker also added, “The cost of looking at replacing an activity bus is fairly expensive so we want to make sure we’re doing the right thing before we make any recommendation.”

Responding to the concerns, Walker told the Board he would want to talk about this issue in February.