School bus cards added for Berryville

Making sure students get on and off the correct bus will now be easier for the Berryville School District.

Using a grant awarded last year, the district has completed the installation of a bus card scanning system, according to superintendent Owen Powell.

“Every bus has a computer screen, although it’s really more like a monitor in all of our buses,” Powell said. “Students get a card and when they get on the bus, they scan their card. And as they get off the bus they scan their card. It’s really just a safety measure.

“It lets us know who’s getting on the bus and who gets off the bus and actually tells you where they get off the bus.”

The district started working on installing the system in all buses last school year, Powell said.

“It took some time, but we’re finally getting it up and running,” he said. “It’s really a good thing for our transportation department. It helps us track our students and lets us know where they are, where they’re getting off the bus or whether they didn’t get off the bus. Just a nice safety measure.”

Students use the same card they scan when getting breakfast and lunches.

“They use that card in our food service department and now for transportation,” Powell said.

NO MAJOR INJURIES IN ACCIDENT, POWELL SAYS Powell said there were no major injuries when two school buses collided on the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 28, near the middle school campus.

“One of our buses was stopping,” Powell said. “And there was another bus behind it trailing and got distracted and rear-ended the bus that was stopping.”

Students were on both buses.

“There were actually quite a few kids on both buses,” Powell said. “Fortunately, there weren’t any injuries. We might have had a few bumps and bruises, but the injuries were very minimal on either bus.”

The accident occurred on Freeman Avenue, the superintendent said.

“It was actually right in front of the middle school,” he said. “It was more than a fender- bender. It wasn’t a major accident, but there was damage to both buses.”

The district announced the accident on its Facebook page the day it happened.

“This post is to inform you that the Dolphin and Frog buses were in a minor accident this afternoon,” the post reads.

There were no citations issued to either driver, Powell said.

“The most important thing is that nobody got hurt,” he said. “It’s called an accident for a reason, because it is an accident.”

LIGHT BOARD AGENDA

The school board had a fairly light agenda at its monthly meeting held Monday, Aug.

26.

The board approved spending $56,000 on a new video board for Bobcat Arena.

“It’s hard to believe that the board in there is 15 years old,” Powell said. “When it comes to technology, anything that’s 15 years old is a dinosaur. It’s been a good one for 15 years, but it’s going down on us and it’s time to replace it.”

The board also approved a resolution to approve using the services of Sharp Printing, a business owned by Mike Sharp, who works in the district’s transportation department.

“He owns a local business here in town and we do quite a bit of business with him,” Powell said. “Our options are pretty limited and we actually save money by doing business with him.

“Anytime you do over $10,000 worth of business you have to do a resolution through the board, and you also have to get it approved through the state.”

In the monthly facilities report, the board heard about the hard work that was done over the summer getting campuses ready for the new school year, Powell said.

“It was a big shout out to all of our summer crew that did all the work with our facilities,” Powell said. “Our facilities look great. They worked really hard over the summer getting everything ready for our kids.”

In personnel approvals, the board OK’d the hires of middle school teacher Sandon Williams, long-term substitute Jessica Badgwell, special education paraprofessionals Dakota Tesch-Spry and Nelda Wojsznarowicz, cafeteria and custodial substitute Adam Waterbury, custodial substitute Montana Engel, substitute bus driver Alaina Davidson and substitute nurse Ashley Phillips.

The board also approved the resignations of middle school teacher Dalton Combs and special education paraprofessional Jessica Conrad, and the transfer of Deidre Powell from a cafeteria employee to a special education paraprofessional.

The meeting included a three-minute executive session for a personnel hearing, which resulted in a unanimous vote to terminate the contract of Todd Scott, who was hired in June as a middle school teacher and coach.

The district’s attendance as of Aug. 20 was 1,777, Powell reported.