Board, buses on ballot for Keota

By Doug Russell, News Editor

KEOTA, Jan. 14 — Voters living in the Keota school district will have to decide more than who’s going to be on the board of education when they go to the polls Feb. 9.

They’ll also be deciding if the schools will continue to run buses that have a good chance of breaking down before making it in from their assigned routes.

School officials are asking voters to approve $270,000 for transportation in the form of a bond issue. If approved, the schools will issue bonds and purchase several new buses to replace some that have more than 100,000 miles on them.

“I’m looking at two, possibly three, buses,” said Keota Superintendent Rita Echelle. “A couple of them are ’92 models. We’ve had several breakdowns this year, as well as towing and repair costs.”

School officials want to replace the old buses with newer, diesel models. “These are route buses, not activity buses,” Echelle said. “If there’s any money left after the buses, we may look at a van to haul small groups of students to activities.”

“The bus fleet in Keota won’t last as long as a bus fleet in some place like Edmond,” Echelle said. “Many of our roads are rural, unpaved roads which shortens the life of our buses.”

The school district is floating its own financially this year, despite large cuts in funding from the state.

For more on this story, pick up this week's Stigler News-Sentinel. To subscribe to the newspaper, call 918-967-4655.

This website and the contents therein copyright ©2010 News-Sentinel Inc. Downloading or reproduction of any material in whole or in part is prohibited without expressed permission from News Sentinel Inc.