Monday, April 22, 2013
By Mary Smith
MINERAL RIDGE
The Weathersfield Board of Education has approved a lease to own four 2014 buses at a cost of $316,280.
The buses were leased through Sovereign Bank and Rush Truck Centers of Ohio Inc. of Akron.
The district’s bus fleet will become a fleet with buses five years or younger with the new purchase, treasurer Laurena Rouan said.
The district has bought two other buses in the past four years, Rouan said.
“The bus fleet is aging,” she said — adding the district wants to avoid any problems with state inspection of the buses late this summer.
Schools Superintendent Damon Dohar said the district will maintain its usual nine buses for usual runs and will keep a 10th as a spare.
The new buses will be paid for in seven payments of $48,531 a year over seven years, starting Aug. 13. The total cost of the buses, with the cost of the lease-to-own, is $339,717 — or an additional $23,437 over the purchase price, Rouan said.
The board also approved the addition of soccer as a club sport.
Dohar said the board heard a presentation from freshman Bryce Porter, who had compiled a list of 44 students, both boys and girls, who wanted to play. He also located a place to play and sponsors for club soccer.
A local land owner has donated a field near the middle school and high school for use by the soccer club, Dohar said.
He said the board took a look at the proposal and decided it wanted to add the club, approving it Wednesday.
Dohar noted the district is working on adding a Spanish Advanced Placement class to the curriculum in the 2013-14 school year. The course counts toward college credit.
The high school offers Spanish I to IV, and the fourth-year class will replace Spanish IV.
He noted the district already offers an English Advanced Placement course for college credit.