Due to the difficulty of recruiting and maintaining bus drivers for the school district with CDL’s, the Fort Stockton ISD School Board moved forward with the purchase of six buses that do not require the driver to have a CDL.

The buses, which seat 14 passengers, will be used for school purposes and activities. The price tag for the six buses was $476,726.

“This is an expense but rather than be caught without the proper number of CDL drivers, which we don’t know. The shakeup that is happening, we still have the possibility of losing more coaches, we want to be prepared to be able to move our kids around and have to it where any of our employees, provided that they get a 20-hour safety certification, can jump on any of these buses,” Fort Stockton ISD Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Zamora said at the board’s regular meeting on May 23. “And even if we have to make multiple trips around town, we’ll get them to where they need to be at.”

The bid provided for the buses by the TASB Buyboard stated that delivery for the buses will take approximately 220 days.

A 20-hour safety training certification will be required for individuals interested before driving the buses for the district.

Rent set for transitional school housing

Incoming professional staff will soon have the opportunity to save a significant amount of money for their cost of living beginning this summer.

The Fort Stockton ISD School Board approved a monthly rent of $250 for teachers and administrators that choose to stay at the Spanish Trail Lodge – the district’s recently acquired transitional living facility.

Residents staying there will pay month-to-month and can stay as long as desired.

“We’ve discussed that the Spanish Trail Lodge is not something that will done year-to-year (lease). It’ll be a place they can stay until they find an appropriate place to move into whether it be a house or apartment. Or if they are fine living there, they can pay by the month,” Zamora said. “The Spanish Trail was never about making money.”

The facility has 19 rooms, a common’s area that features a kitchen and washers, dryers.