& Albany County Post - The Altamont Enterprise

The Altamont Enterprise – Thursday, December 20, 2012 15
...School leaders clash as BKW mulls plans for run-off at bus garage
or DEC’s Region 4, wrote in
an e-mail to The Enterprise that
the department has provided
technical guidance for an oilseparator.
“We do not know any of the
particular circumstances surrounding
the installation of the
separator (if one was installed)
so we can not speculate as to
whether or not it is needed or if
enforcement would or would not
be required,” wrote Georgeson.
Last month, the town of Berne
received DEC approval of its engineering
plans for a wastewater
collection and treatment facility,
allowing it to go out to bid on its
sewer project, which has been
planned since the late 1990’s.
Helen Lounsbury, board of
education member and retired
district teacher, said at the Sept.
10 meeting that the possibility
of a having a wash bay at the
garage was part of a discussion
between the district and the town
of Berne. It would allow buses to
be cleaned of snow and salt.
“The town of Berne could
provide their garage for our
inspections while we were trying
to get this fixed because
they were afraid the inspectors
wouldn’t work on a wet floor,”
said Lounsbury, whose brother,
Joseph Golden, is a Berne councilman.
The state’s Department of
Transportation inspects each
bus twice a year, Shrederis said
at the September meeting.
Board member Gerald Larghe
and board President Vasilios
Lefkaditis pointed out the potential
savings of washing the damaging
salt off of undercarriages,
increasing their longevity.
“If you push off buying buses
for one year, you just saved
$350,000,” said Lefkaditis.
Two years ago, voters approved
a $305,000 purchase of
two 66-passenger buses, and two
28-passenger buses, affecting the
long-term maintenance of buses.
State transportation aid covered
70 percent of $200,000, bonded
over five years, towards the
buses. The remaining $105,000
came from the district’s transportation
reserve. The proposition
was voted down the spring before
when it included a fifth bus, for
roughly $60,000 more.
Natale said, if the board were
looking into the wash bay, it could
be up to voters as well.
“You’re right, a bus rack is nice
to have, but you’re talking about
a capital project, a referendum
with the voters to approve hundreds
of thousands of dollars to
build that,” said Natale. “I mean,
you’re talking about years out
there.”
Lounsbury said the big cost
to such a project is disposing of
the water.
Staff relations
After being confronted about
tensions with bus drivers at
their Dec. 3 meeting, BKW
School Board members agreed
President Lefkaditis would visit
the transportation department’s
next training meeting in an effort
to settle any concerns.
A public letter to the board
from bus driver Terry Schinnerer
listing concerns about relations
between the two groups was published
in the Dec. 6 issue of The
Enterprise. Lounsbury said at the
December meeting that she was
“dismayed” by the letter, which
accused the board of discussing
privatization of the transportation
department.
Schrederis recalled a related
comment at the September board
meeting, when she told the board
sump pumps from the bus garage
were draining into ditches along
the road. Lounsbury responded
at that meeting by telling Shrederis
to “think this through,” and
suggested outsourcing the transportation
department could be a
consequence of publicizing the
current disposal method.
Lounsbury said at the Dec.
3 meeting that the board had
not discussed what the letter
alleged and Shrederis had
misunderstood her message in
September.
Lefkaditis will represent the
board at the department training
meeting, which Director of
Transportation Denise Towne
said last week has not been
scheduled. She guessed it would
be in late January.
“We’re still putting together
our final curriculum for it,” said
Towne. “We have until March 1st
to do the training.”
District Superintendent Paul
Dorward said he planned to visit
the training meeting as well.
The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia
Parsing words: Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board member Helen Lounsbury, right, and district
bus driver Darleen Shrederis, left, talk during a break at the Dec. 3 board meeting about Shrederis’s
accusation that Lounsbury had threatened her job.
The Enterprise – Marcello Iaia
The pitch: Inside the bus garage Wednesday, the floor is completely
dry. The center of the garage, where tables and cabinets are lined
up, is where the pitched floor is said to accumulate any water
dripping off of buses coming in with snow or ice.
The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia
Spraying the roadspray: One hose is used outside the Berne-Knox-Westerlo bus garage to wash off
any salt or mud accumulated on district vehicles before they are brought inside. District bus driver and
unit president of the local Civil Service Employees Association, Darleen Shrederis, said the district has
over 40 vehicles and the area currently occupied by the district office used to be garage space.