Williams News Logo
Grand Canyon News Logo

Trusted local news leader for Williams AZ and the Grand Canyon

Williams Unified School District installs new radios in buses

WILLIAMS, Ariz. - Radios recently installed in Williams Unified School District (WUSD) buses will help district officials stay in contact with bus drivers and the students riding the buses.

Transportation Director Steven Schober discussed the new radios at the Sept. 10 Governing Board meeting.

In the past, the buses had an analog system that could not reach past Spring Valley Road. In recent years, the buses haven't had any radios. This was problematic if Schober was trying to locate a student.

"We have to call one cell phone to another until I can locate the missing child or get a hold of the driver," he said. "So that can take 10 minutes before I can get a hold of all five drivers. The drivers have to pull over to answer the phone because in Arizona and most other states you're not allowed to talk on the phone while driving a bus."

On Friday, new radios were installed in all eight of the district's buses. Schober will also have a handheld unit in order to communicate with the drivers. The new system will provide statewide coverage.

"So buses in Phoenix, travel buses heading down to Needles, whatever the case may be, we'll have statewide connectivity to all those buses," Schober said.

The new radios cost about $8,700, which came from the recent sale of two older backup buses. While the district was originally quoted a trade-in value of about $9,000 for both buses, Schober was able to sell them on eBay for about $17,400, which covered the cost of the radios.

"I think it's an essential tool that we need to have and they probably should have already been in all of the buses," he said. "I think it's really going to help our school district keep track of what's going on."

In other governing board news, WUSD Business Manager Melissa Ellico briefed the Governing Board on the status of the district's budget override.

Voter support of the 2012 override has provided the Williams Unified School District with enough funding this year for the equivalent of 9.25 teacher salaries.

"If you had to cut 9.25 teachers out of our schools right now, that would be almost one for every elementary grade and a couple at the high school, or every elective across the board," Ellico said. "So that would be a huge crisis for our district that we're glad that the voters saw as well."

The override allows the district to spend an additional 10 percent of its maintenance and operations (M&O) budget that voters pay for through property taxes. State law allows school districts to ask for overrides of as much as 15 percent, but WUSD officials chose 10 percent, the amount of the district's previous override. The previous override has been in effect for about 10 years.

The override will be in place for seven years. The cost of the override for taxpayers comes out to about $30 per $100,000 of property valuation per year. For the 2014 budget, the override generated $383,940. For the 2015 budget, it generated $383,328. Ellico attributed the slight decrease to a lower student count.

The district uses the money from the override to continue to offer full day kindergarten, maintain current class sizes, maintain current course offerings at the high school, continue the art and physical education programs, and offer three levels of sports (middle school, junior varsity and varsity).

"So these are some ways that we are expanding our M&O dollars to keep services the way they have been for several years," Ellico said. "And we're happy to report that the voters have trusted us with this and hope that this continues."


Donate Report a Typo Contact