BONNIE CLARK: Lee County school buses need air conditioning

I am a bus driver for the Lee County School System. Today (Aug. 18) on my bus it was 108 degrees. How is that safe for drivers or students?

You can spend literally millions on sports complexes (AstroTurf on the football field — over $10 million; a proposed new track surface, a multipurpose room — approximately $600,000; playground equipment, computers — badly needed, but approximately $850,000; where is the bid for cheaper equipment?) and the list goes on and on. But where in that SPLOST money or the Board of Education’s budget do you see funding to get air-conditioning units put on your buses and replace the 40-plus buses that need replacing?

Taxpayers and parents of Lee County school age children should be up in arms about this issue. They told us last year (2015-16) that the buses would be retrofitted during the summer. That did not happen. We were supposed to have 19 new buses with A/C to start this school year.

Now they are telling us that the retrofit of the current school buses will not be done until next year and the new buses will not be purchased until April 2017? 2017! Really? Do you not realize that we live in South Georgia where it is hot almost all the school year?

You leave your air-conditioned house to get in your air-conditioned car to get to your air-conditioned office or school. The school children of Lee County do not have this option. They complain daily to the bus drivers that they are hot, so we let the windows down in the bus. We only have hot air blowing in. Then if it rains, we have to let all of the windows up; the heat then increases on the bus. It is a vicious cycle.

Here are a few basic facts for the Lee County School Board to consider:

1. Heat indexes can, and often do, rise to the 130s, 140s, 150s, and many school districts have no requirement that new or replacement buses for their fleets come equipped with air conditioning;

2. There are few provisions to ensure kids stay hydrated or have water available on the bus when these heat events occur. Having water available for students on buses without A/C when it is hot is a necessity;

3. The price of a new bus without A/C averages about $65,000, and with A/C about $73,000. There is a high benefit of ordering buses with air conditioning when they are new, as it costs more to retrofit, approximately $1,000 to $5,000;

4. Air-conditioned environments reduce incidents of violence and student discipline, which reduces the expense of dealing with those incidents;

5. With A/C, there is better driver retention and less driver distraction and danger, from medical conditions or violence risk or fatigue;

6. State laws against child abuse and endangerment require minimizing exposure to danger, and many districts fail to take any action to keep children safe from heat at the end of the school day. They do not need to have criminal intent, but often just are negligent in correcting the problem;

7. School districts need to find funds for these changes, and legislators need to assist in funding or providing relief for making pupil transportation safe by requiring A/C.

If you feel that it is insane and/or illegal to subject children and their bus drivers to the insane heat that they must endure, then you must act, even if you just make a few phone calls.

Maybe it’s time to spend less money on sports and more money on the transportation of our kids to and from school in comfort!

Hhere’s an idea, since the School Board sees fit to upgrade sports facilities over the welfare of the children under their care, I would like to propose that each and every School Board member, including Dr. Miller, be required to ride a school bus every day for a week — morning and afternoon — so that they may experience the 110- to 120-degree temperatures on the school buses they chose not to air condition.

Every day! Morning and afternoon! For a week! Right now!

Bonnie Clark has been driving school buses for five years. This is her third year driving for the Lee County School System. Before that, she was employed at MacGregor Golf in Albany until the facility closed.