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East Hampton Transportation Department Supervisor Joseph Lipani speaks to the board of education during a meeting last week.
East Hampton School District’s transportation department supervisor said the district is struggling to get bus drivers vaccinated for COVID-19 — and the increasing demand for bus runs has complicated the situation.
Joseph Lipani told the East Hampton School Board, at a budget meeting on March 23, that getting kids back and forth from school to home was already difficult, but transportation to and from sporting events has made the situation that more challenging.
“The drivers are doing the best they can,” Mr. Lipani said. “Until we have every driver vaccinated, we have to do what we have to do with extra drivers.”
Because the district is only putting 30 students on a bus that usually takes 45 to 55 on a route, more buses need to be put into service. Buses leaving the school around 2:30 p.m. each day for both game-day transportation and dismissal further compounds the problem, he said.
“Not many people want to drive a school bus right now. It’s not a job a lot of people are signing up for,” Mr. Lipani said. “Since we’re so shorthanded, drivers are saying they’ll cancel their vaccination appointments.”
Superintendent Richard Burns said that’s something that just can’t happen.
What also cannot continue, the transportation supervisor said, is the installation of cameras on school buses.
“I put them on pause. I wasn’t quite happy with what was going on with the installations,” Mr. Lipani said. “We’re waiting for this upcoming week when students aren’t around. That’s when we can concentrate on getting them done.”
He said there were several nights where the temperature dropped below 20 degrees, and workers were rushing to finish. He’d come into work and find screws all over the parking lot.
“So I said, ‘No, this is not working for us. Let’s rethink this,’” Mr. Lipani said. “They need supervision, they definitely do.”
Mr. Burns said it was a good call. The transportation supervisor said he’s hoping the installations will be done by the end of the spring break.
Besides that, he is proposing small increases for each building, to cover library upgrades at the elementary school and replace chairs in and repaint the auditorium at the middle school.
Charles Westergard, manager of information systems for the district, said there’s about a $1,000 decrease in his budget, but said putting Chromebooks in every classroom from kindergarten through 12th grade has kept the budget close to where it was last year.
“We also rolled out a number of cleaning devices that use ozone to clean the Chromebooks for the elementary school.” Mr. Westergard said. “We have a system in place. It’s too much of a challenge for teachers to keep up with. The biggest increase is my materials and supplies, and Chromebooks and laptops are a big part of that.”
“We need them more than ever, now,” School Board President J.P. Foster said. “Thank God we have what we had going into this and we were on the right track the last couple of years, because so many people weren’t.”
Last year, Mr. Westergard budgeted for 370 Chromebooks at $180 each, or $66,000, and this year is budgeting for 500 at $250, which totals $125,000.
“My hope is that I’m going to be able to find a quality device at a lower price, and then maybe even get additional hardware, because we’re struggling right now,” the technology manager said. “The demand is incredibly high, which also raises costs.”
Mr. Westergard said the district is stressed because it’s at the point where spares are dated, and there aren’t any new models to issue should an old one break beyond repair or need to be sent in for fixing. He said many students are already using devices that are four or five years old.
“Originally, the plan was at the end of the fourth year that device would be retired — but we’re glad these models are still working,” Mr. Westergard said. “We’re grateful for the kids that returned them in good shape, because they’ve gone out to other students and they’re still being used.”
Mr. Lipani said software subscriptions — three to four different packages — need to be updated yearly, so he’s also expecting a small increase in his transportation budget there. But he said because the district has purchased buses over the past eight years, East Hampton can skip a year. The saving there will more than offset the cost.
But when it comes to fuel, Mr. Lipani said he is still unsure where prices will be next school year, especially if there’s another COVID-19 spike or new strain.
East Hampton’s next board of education meeting will be on Tuesday, April 6, at 6:30 p.m. The board of education has not yet announced if there will be another budget meeting before the final presentation before its adoption. Adoption of the budget needs to happen at least seven days prior to the hearing where it is presented to community members.
