The Los Alamitos Unified School District Board of Education Tuesday approved the district’s participation in a grant program to purchase new low emissions school buses.
The program is offered by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD). The bus replacement grant is to replace five diesel buses with five new compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.
“It’s a bus replacement program for diesel busses that are pre-1987,” Los Alamitos Unified School District Director of Transportation Jim Poper told OC180NEWS. “The Board [of Education] has given us approval to apply for the grant and I’ve already discussed this with AQMD and they say we look really good for it.”
The Los Alamitos Unified School District already operates three 2005 CNG busses, out of a fleet of 16 buses. Thus, if the new grant is approved, 8 buses, or half the district’s bus fleet, will be newer CNG busses.
“We should know within the month if we are going to be given the grant, Poper told OC180NEWS. “We have quotes from companies which meet the grant requirements.”
Once the grant is approved, the district must get a certification that the busses have been dismantled so they can not be resold and put back on the highway. Once the district has the certification, the purchase can go forward.
If Los Alamitos Unified purchased the CNG buses new without this program, they would cost $177,788 each. With this program, the District is paying 9 cents on the dollar for the purchase of these buses. The District’s share of the cost is $15,000 per bus, for a total of $75,000 or not to exceed $81,000 with taxes. In addition, there will be a small disposal fee for the five old diesel buses.
Poper explained that from the outside, the new busses look identical to the district’s existing three LNG busses. But, there will be a significant difference on the inside.
“They’re going to look identical, they’re the same transit style busses, Poper told us. “The only difference is going to be seat belts.”
Poper said these new busses will be the district’s first school busses equipped with the safety devices.
The Los Alamitos Unified School District serves nearly 10,000 students in Seal Beach, Rossmoor, and Los Alamitos. The district includes Los Alamitos High School, a full service high school, Laurel High School, a continuation high school, McAuliffe Middle School, Oak Middle School, and six elementary schools. Mrs. Karen Russell is the current President of the Board of Education. Dr. Sherry Kropp is the Superintendant of the Los Alamitos Unified School District.
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About Dolores Barr, Publisher
Dolores Barr has lived in Rossmoor since 1992 and has created this site to provide local news for the people of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Rossmoor, Leisure World, Sunset Beach, and Surfside, California. My husband and I have had two students graduate from the Los Alamitos Unified School District and currently our Grandson, Ricky Apodaca, grade 3 at Weaver Elementary, is actively involved in youth baseball through LAYB and youth football through FNL.
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