Superintendent says purchase was best financial option
Staff writer
Marion-Florence USD 408 purchased an activity coach bus Thursday for the school district.
The bus, a 1998 Bluebird Motor Coach, will replace a 19-year-old yellow activity bus in need of repairs that had just one year of operation remaining, according to state law.
District superintendent Lee Leiker said he was searching for another yellow activity bus, one that will not be included on school-day routes, when he stumbled on a “tremendous deal.”
The district was able to purchase the motor coach, which has no use limit, for $49,900. Leiker said yellow activity buses were priced between $55,000-60,000.
Why the great deal?
Leiker said he thought it was a misprint.
When he saw the bus in a magazine, he thought there should be a one in front of the $49,900 price tag.
He called the owner of the bus, and after a week of negotiating, decided if the bus was in working order, the district would purchase it.
The board held a special meeting April 8 and authorized Leiker to buy the bus in South Dakota.
“We were just in the right place at the right time,” Leiker said. “He had several calls while he was holding it for us.”
The individual who sold the bus owned a fleet and did not have a use for it any longer.
“I also think it was a sign of the time,” Leiker said referring to the country’s recession.
The bus, which has only 150,000 miles and can run up to 750,000-one million, was cheaper than most yellow buses.
“It was a good economical decision compared to what we were looking at with yellow buses,” he said.
It also gets one-to-two miles more per gallon than yellow buses.
“It’s an activity bus this district can have for a lot of years,” he said.
The bus
After flying to South Dakota with board members Lyle Leppke and Duane Kirkpatrick on Leiker’s brother-in-law’s private plane, the three drove the bus back to Marion.
“The quietness of the drive was amazing,” Leiker said.
The 47-seat vehicle only holds about three more people than the yellow buses, but has much more storage.
All equipment, even pole vaulting poles, can be stored below the bus in a separate storage space.
There is more storage above the individual, reclining seats, similar to a commercial airliner, meaning the school will not have to take an extra vehicle just for equipment.
A convenient situation for the district is the fact it already is painted with MHS colors — red, white, and blue.
It currently reads “B-J School Buses,” on the driver’s side, but that will be removed with a vinyl cutter, and MHS art teacher Jim Versch will paint “Marion Warriors.”
Whether it was destined to land in Marion or not Leiker doesn’t know, but he is glad it did.
“The main thing is the price was better and the life-expectancy of it is so much longer,” he said. “I didn’t know we could have this nice of a bus.”