Berryville board approves purchase of 2 new buses

Berryville Schools Superintendent Owen Powell remembers the first time he requested a school board to approve the purchase of a school bus.

The price of that ask more than 20 years ago? Approximately $50,000.

At its regular monthly board meeting held Monday, Feb. 23, Powell’s request for two new buses was a bit more costly.

“They were $141,650 each,” the superintendent said of the two buses that were ultimately approved by the board. “That’s hard to swallow. It’s crazy how expensive school buses have gotten, but you have to have them, you know?

“I kind of show my age I guess in as long as I’ve been doing this, but the first bus that I ever asked a board to approve to buy was a little over $50,000.”

The district has a regular rotation routine in which the most deteriorated buses are phased out with the addition of new buses.

OTHER ITEMS

The board also approved the district’s Personnel Policy Committee’s recommendation for a 2026-2027 school calendar.

The PPC came up with two calendars with some differences in them,” Powell said. “We put that out to staff to vote …” The calendar receiving the most votes gained approximately 55 percent approval, the superintendent said, and will include more days off for staff and students throughout the school year.

“We’re taking a few small breaks throughout the year that we probably normally don’t take,” Powell said. “A day here or there instead of really just trying to get it all done as quickly as we can.”

With a state-mandated 178 instructional days required for the district, there’s only so much wiggle room to work with, Powell said.

In other board action, an agreement was approved to partner with Opaa! Food Management, Inc.

“The purpose of that, they’re a really big group, and they buy big volumes of food, so they can get discounts on it without compromising the quality of food,” Powell said.