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PSS: 5 buses down for repair
Only 12 of the Public School System’s 17 buses are running, with the five out for maintenance and waiting parts from vendors, according to Education Commissioner Dr. Rita Sablan at a Board of Education meeting on Friday.
“Our vendors are not able to secure the appropriate parts that we need for the buses that are down,” Sablan told the board.
She said PSS Pupil and Transportation manager Kino Rosario is working closely with their vendors to “get those parts immediately.”
PSS buses are fairly new, but with high usage, and the care of 66 children per bus, tires have to be changed out regularly, according to federal programs officer Tim Thornburg.
PSS spends about $200,000 to $250,000 a year just on bus maintenance, according to Thornburg.
PSS uses federal funds to cover a portion of the amount but once that is gone they will have to “totally depend on the local budget for support,” Thornburg said.
He described this as a “big challenge” for the system.
Sablan said that PSS is in definite need of new buses, and that a part of the local budget has been set aside for the maintenance of PSS’ current buses.
“As far as buying buses we just do not have the money,” she said.
The commissioner said, though, that Gov. Eloy S. Inos did promise two new buses and that they have been ordered with a hopeful arrival by the end of the year.
The commissioner also said that Rosario is preparing a report that will give an overall picture of bus services on Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. The report would anticipate needs for bus services, and how many bus riders there are in the system this year.
One of the five buses that are non-operational is the one on Rota, according to board member Tanya king.
“We have a very difficult time providing for our students within PSS. Yesterday, I was at GTC and students were released from school at 2:30, [but] the kids did not leave campus until 3:45,” Sablan said.
