RCS purchases additional bus for special needs

The Russellville City Schools bus fleet will grow by one following a vote by Russellville City Schools Board of Education at its regularly-scheduled meeting Thursday.

The board voted unanimously to accept the lowest bid, upon recommendation by transportation supervisor Alan Wilson, of $96,027.55 by Southland International. The bus in question will be for students with special needs.

“We have more students with special needs who are being transported, so we just needed to add a bus,” said Superintendent Heath Grimes.

Other bids were $99,827 from Busworx Blue Bird and $105,699 from Transportation South.

Work began last week on replacing the retaining wall bordering the parking lot at the old College Avenue School. A portion of the wall was washed away by heavy rains earlier in March. Grimes said Russellville City Schools intends to lay sod in place of the wall.

“We knew that more of that wall might deteriorate and fall or cause damage and could even be dangerous for passersby, so we went ahead and decided to tear that wall down, round off the hillside, plant it back with green grass and make it look nice,” Grimes said. “We’re trying to add some beautification to the city.” Grimes said this effort toward beautification has also made the board consider what might could be done to improve the aesthetic of the old school building as well; tearing down the wall and laying the sod, of course, meets the immediate need for the present situation.
The board also:

• Approved personnel actions including Jerry Canida as bus driver supervisor; Wytannah Honey’s resignation as part-time teacher at WES; and Susette Hallmark as teacher at Russellville High School.
• Approved trip requests for RHS Scholars’ Bowl and RHS Envirothon Team.
• Approved facility use requests for the RHS Booster Club’s Mike King Kicking Camp in June and Calvary Baptist’s family outreach event in August.
• Received a clean audit report from The Watkins Johnsey Professional Group, presented by Buddy Johnsey. “All of our money is accounted for. Every penny is in place,” Grimes said, expressing his appreciation for all RCS bookkeepers and for CFO Lisa Witt.

The next regularly scheduled meeting will be April 27 at 3:30 p.m.