Acadia Parish School Board receives reports on activity buses, Act 654

For some time now, buses have been a topic of discussion at the Acadia Parish School Board’s monthly meetings.

Monday night’s August meeting was no different.

Up for discussion then were reports on activity bus usage by the parish’s high schools (and the elementary schools using them) as well as a report on Act 654 of 2014 regarding bus loading and unloading.

On the usage front, Board Member Gene Daigle has been pushing for accountability by the schools, a matter the board as a whole agreed with and something Superintendent John Bourque talked to principals and head coaches about, ahead of the 2014-15 school year.

“We spent right at $700,000 for those buses,” said Daigle. “It’s about accountability.

“When we hire teachers, we evaluate them. When we build a building, we inspect it.”

“We’re trying to insist to them (schools) to take care of them (buses),” said Bourque. 

Bourque added that principals, coaches and athletic directors at the schools were understanding that these activity buses are a luxury and that it is important that the schools maintain them properly.

Daigle moved that the board be given a report annually at each September school board meeting of odometer readings for the previous school year.

Bourque expects that the schools will have those readings for this year this week as two schools – Church Point and Midland – have already turned in their numbers.

Bourque would also like the schools to expound upon the buses’ usage so that the board will also know who is using each bus and what they are being used for.

The motion passed unanimously.

Perhaps the biggest concern, particularly with school starting in eight days, is the passage of Act 654 by the Legislature and it being signed into law.

The law, basically, calls for school buses to only load and unload students on their side of the street and not allow buses to pick up students from across the street.

According to Attorney General “Buddy” Caldwell’s opinion, which was requested by several districts across the state, school districts have been granted a reasonable amount of time to implement the law. But withseveral steps of examination needed to implement the law, many school districts, including Acadia, believe it will take the full year to do so.

The districts will have to implement the law after the reasonable time frame, however, unless the law is changed next legislative session.