High fuel prices impact on local schools

   By now, every person who owns a motor vehicle has felt the impact of higher fuel prices, not only at the pump, but at the grocery store as well. As the 2008-09 school year gets underway this week, school districts are experiencing the same increases in their transportation and nutrition budgets.

   Just as individual families are looking for ways to make their tank of gas last longer and their grocery bills a little lower, school officials have also had to review their transportation and nutrition budgets as they, like families around Livingston County, try to keep pace with these tough economic times.

   School districts increased their fuel budgets for this year but it is still unknown whether it will be enough fuel prices continue to fluctuate. Livonia Central School transports all of its students K-12 to and from school. Superintendent Scott Bischoping says the district did increase the fuel budget for this school year, but it’s still unknown whether it will be enough depending on where fuel prices go this year. He says the district has no plans to change the transportation policy (all students in K-12); however, they did a few years ago, review all of the district’s bus runs and made some changes at that time.

   Avon Central School increased their fuel budget as well. Superintendent Bruce Amey agrees that there is no way to know at this point whether it will be enough, however, he hopes the recent decrease in fuel prices is a positive indication.

   Avon school transports all K – 6 students and 7 – 12 students who live more than one mile from school or who have to cross Rt. 5 & 20 to get to school. He says the district is reviewing its transportation policy in light of the higher fuel prices and says they would engage the community in any discussions that would result in a policy change.

   With student safety in mind, it was just a few years ago that Caledonia-Mumford Central School modified its policy to include transportation to and from school of all K – 5 students. Superintendent of Schools David V. Dinolfo says the district has no plans to change that policy because of higher fuel prices. In fact, he expects even more parents, those who are driving their children to and from school, to take advantage of the school bus ride for them to save on their home fuel budgets.

   "Our transportation director, Richard Harness, designed our bus runs with efficiency and I would expect more parents to take advantage of the bus ride to school for their children," Dinolfo explained.

   Of the total 200,000 miles that the CM transportation department drives annually, only about 20,000 is for extracurricular activities including field trips and athletics. He says extracurricular bus runs, including field trips and athletics, are a relatively small portion of the transportation budget but they have been reviewed and modified where possible. Understanding that high school athletics are an important part of the Cal-Mum community, Dinolfo says if fuel prices remain high, the district may begin using spectator buses to transport large numbers of people to athletic events, if there is community interest. The small charge per person to take the bus would be much less than driving individually and would offset the cost to the district. Cal-Mum is looking at ways to contain energy costs that would result in much larger savings, the superintendent said. These include installing a new heating system that voters approved two years ago in the Excel capital project and upgrading the energy management controls within each building.

    Food prices continue to rise on a weekly basis and it is greatly impacting public school nutritional services departments. Cal-Mum Food Services Director Susan Presher says school districts participate in cooperative bidding through the Office of Government Services. Still, she says, prices are going up across the board on a weekly, if not daily, basis. The menu must meet federal nutrition guidelines and it must feature foods that kids like and will eat. With that in mind, Presher says it is very expensive to eat healthy, as most mothers who are doing the family shopping already know. Milk and grain based have doubled or more in price, she says, making a popular lunch item like pizza, very expensive to offer.

   "Menu items that include rice are also popular. The kids really like rice and we use nutritious brown rice, which used to be a government commodity. It isn’t any more so we have to purchase rice and it’s very expensive. It’s nutritious and the kids love it so we’ll continue to offer it at Cal-Mum," Presher commented.

   Many area schools were forced to raise their lunch prices this year because of the increasing food prices. Avon CS did not raise the price of school lunch, but is closely monitoring the budget in that area and looking for ways to hold down costs, the superintendent said. Student lunch prices in Livingston County schools range between $1.50 and $2.00 per day. Faculty and staff pay around $3.75 for a cafeteria lunch.

   "The price increases are totally beyond our control," says Presher. "We have to deliver a product that kids like. If you don’t have participation from the kids, you don’t have a program."

    Some companies have instituted a ten-hour, four-day work week to help employees save on fuel costs. School districts in the southern states have also gone to an extended four-day school week to contain fuel and heating costs. Educational experts quoted in the online versions of USA Today and the Christian Science Monitor say the minimal savings is not enough to offset the negative impact on students and teaching effectiveness.