Shuttle service OK'd

By CHANCE PRIGGE

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The District 88 School Board voted unanimously Thursday to provide a shuttle service to all students among the city's school buildings for the 2002-2003 school year.

This service will allow parents to drop off their children at the nearest school buildings, at which point they will be shuttled to their regular schools.

The service will cost approximately $10,000, Superintendent Harold Remme said. A supervisor or two will be hired to monitor the students as they're getting on or switching buses.

The service will be available every day for students at all public and nonpublic schools.

The service expansion will last one year, after which its success will be evaluated by the board.

Remme recommended the expansion of shuttle services after researching this option and another, which involved expanding busing services to students within a two-mile radius.

The second option had estimated costs of $3 per student per day, with nine- or possibly five-month services parents would have to sign up for.

The board also unanimously adopted the proposed 2002-2003 Operating Budget.

Revenues total $21,837,666 and expenditures total $21,790,159, both of which are increases from 2001-2002.

General fund revenues at $19,614,844 are about $40,000 less than expenditures of $19,654,473.

Community service fund revenues of $660,974 are also about $7,000 less than expenditures, while all other funds' revenues are greater than their expenditures.

Remme said the operating levy that passed in November was of "tremendous" help to the district's budget.

In addition, the School Board unanimously adopted its plans for high school freshmen orientation, which takes place on Sept. 3.

This year, the freshmen will be the only grade showing up in the morning of orientation day. The remaining grades will come at 11:45 a.m. for an abbreviated day.

Last year freshmen were the only ones who attended the first day of school.

"One day might have been too long," Remme said.

School Board members said feedback on the day was positive last year, with parents saying some of their children had more positive comfort levels with high school because of it.

Students who come at 11:45 a.m. will have to find their own means of transportation to school that day.

School Board Vice Chair Steven Wachter said he wanted to see results of the day's effects on the students soon, as opposed to at the end of the year.

In other business, the School Board increased Washington School band time from .5 full-time equivalent to .75.

It also approved the 2002-2003 School Board Schedule and canceled its July 11 meeting. The board will next meet July 25.