When officials decided to start school three weeks before Labor Day, there were some concerns students riding buses to and from school would be sweating due to a lack of air conditioning.
Some cafeteria workers inside the schools also labor without air conditioning. It’s a problem, after all, as temperatures in mid-August can sweltering.
On Tuesday, the Stafford County School Board voted unanimously to replace five buses in their fleet for a cost of $531,810. The new buses will include air conditioning.
The buses will carry up to 77 passengers and be delivered by Virginia-based Sonny Merriman Corporation in about six months.
The School Board on Tuesday allocated another half-million to retrofit 50 of its older school buses with air conditioning units before the start of the new school year in August.
The school division plans to retrofit 50 more buses at a later time. The overall retrofit will cost about $1 million, and move the total percentage of buses with air conditions in Stafford’s fleet from 11% to 71%.
Also in line to get air conditioner units kitchens at 10 county schools that currently don’t have them. Three schools will receive the units this summer, with more to follow in the coming years.
These new projects were funded with a total of $2.5 million in unused carryover funds, appropriated to it by the Stafford Board of Supervisors.
