LAPLACE — St. John the Baptist Parish students will be riding on new school buses soon thanks to Community Development Block Grant Hurricane Isaac recovery funding.

St. John Parish was allocated $32 million through the CDBG for recovery, Parish President Natalie Robottom said.

The money was divided into different pots based on damage, according to Robottom.

During last week’s Parish Council meeting, Robottom recommended $5 million of CDBG funds be directed to the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board to help with damaged school buses.

“During the storm we did use several of their buses to get residents from their homes to our staging area at New Wine where we had Coach buses take people to shelter,” Robottom said.

School District Superintendent Kevin George said a number of the school buses sustained damage after being driven through floodwater to rescue stranded residents. George said 17 school buses need to be replaced.

“Because they have gone through water, there are constant repair issues,” George said. “All of the buses that went through the water are giving us major, major problems. We are going to replace all of them. Once water gets into a system, it wreaks havoc on the mechanical systems of a bus. They have constant problems because water got into places it shouldn’t be.”

George said the school system replaces about 10 percent of its fleet each year, which usually accounts for five or six buses, adding a bus normally cost $85,000.

At the last Council meeting when attending members voted unanimously to direct the funding for school buses, a few Council members voiced concerns about air conditioning.

“Our Board still needs to make the final decision, but the administration is definitely recommending we have air conditioning on the buses,” George said. “There won’t be another time we can basically replace a third of our fleet at one time. So this is probably the best time to begin the process of making sure all of our buses have air conditioning.”
The new buses, like the current buses, will service public and private schools.

As for purchasing the new buses, the School Board is waiting for the approval from the CDBG administration to access the funds. George said that could come at any day.

New school buses will help the school system tremendously, George said.

“When you get new buses, the maintenance on those buses isn’t as heavy as what we are doing now,” he said. “It will allow our fleet to work the way it was intended to work, where you don’t have as many students having to double up because a bus broke down. It’s a relief that we are able to get 17 problematic buses off the road and replace them with brand new buses.

“Our fleet will be more efficient, and kids will get to school on time and get home on time. We are really looking forward to having the new buses in our fleet.”

— By Raquel Derganz Baker