With the shortage of bus drivers, most Yutan students take vans to activities, but the school’s vans weren’t in great condition. Luckily, the school recently purchased two new vans.
The Ford vans were approved in the fall and paid for out of the district’s depreciation fund.
“The school district utilized the Savings Depreciation Fund. This fund is like a savings account. Each of the past 5-7 years, the school district transfers some money into this fund at the end of each school year, and then after a few years of saving, has pooled enough money to pay for larger expenses, like the vans,” superintendent Rex Pfeil said.
Knowing that the school was in need of new vans and the funds were available, the school board started the process of searching for options. The school had many different requirements for the vans to make them safe.
“We sent an RFP (Request for Proposal) to several area auto dealerships. The RFP outlined the specifications of the vans (size, engine, color, etc..) and then the dealerships submitted their best price based on the specifications. Each van was $63,656 for a total of $127,312,” Pfeil said.
The new vans arrived in November and were ready for use. The coaches who have used them already have noticed the improved safety of the vans.
“It’s really nice that they handle the road. Roads are much better. You can go up to the speed limit now, and it feels much safer, whereas some of the older vans had a tense-up on the steering wheel because they would just bump and, you know, the wind would feel like you’re blown away, but these feel much safer to be able to drive when you’re out on a highway,” social studies teacher Elliott Ruleaux said.
The new vans also have new technology, better windows and higher seats to make for a safer driving environment.
“I love how high up they sit, so it feels like you’re way up off the ground. The old vans sit up high, but it doesn’t feel quite as low as the old vans. It’s not as good of a vantage point. The new vans have so many windows up front so you get a full view of what’s going on. The new vans have, like, everything is new on them…it doesn’t make random sounds. It has Bluetooth in it. The steering wheels are super steady, and it doesn’t feel like it shakes as much,” English teacher Alyssa Hansen said.
The students agree the new vans are an upgrade from the old vans.
“The one thing I feel is different between the vans is how clean they are. The old vans have quite a bit of trash in them. They even have trash in the ceiling, but with the new vans, they are so much cleaner. I just hope that they stay like that,” senior Reagan Wilson said.
One big difference is that the vans have an open space plan because they have one less seat than the old vans.
“Kind of a negative, but it’s kind of a positive. There’s one less seat, so sometimes that impacts how many vans you need to take, but it’s also kind of nice. There’s one seat in the back that then has extra legroom. So if you have a student that’s a little taller than the rest, they can claim that and probably feel a little more comfortable on your trip,” Ruleaux said.
Another adjustment is locating all the new features, which Hansen discovered when she took one of the vans to fill up with gas.
“I got out of the van, and I looked for the pump. So I spent a good 10 minutes looking for it, and I looked on the back, and I looked on the front, and I tried to figure out how to pop the hood because I thought maybe it was in there and finally, I googled it and it said it was in the door. So I opened the door, and it was not there,” Hansen said. “So as I was in the middle of calling Mr. Lynch to ask him where the gas tank is feeling like an absolute idiot, I saw a little pull-down tab in the front door, so I pulled it, and there was the gas tank. And so that is the only thing I would change is that the gas tank is in a normal spot.” Despite the adjustments, everyone seems to be enjoying the new vans. However, keeping them nice is the biggest challenge going forward.
“Cleaning up after ourselves. It’s hard with the old vans because they already, like a lot of them, have a little bit of trash in them. So then it’s easy for kids to just think, oh, I can leave my trash in here, but making sure that kids clean up after themselves, that they’re not leaving garbage behind, taking responsibility as a coach or a sponsor to look through the van before you take the keys back and just trying to keep them as clean as possible so that you know they can continue to stay looking nice and feeling new for years to come,” Hansen said.
