NEELYVILLE -- The Neelyville R-IV Board of Education decided to purchase a diesel engine school bus from Midwest for $82,966 for the district during their monthly meeting.
Two bus bids were received from Midwest and Central States for a 77 passenger school bus.
The bid from Midwest included warranty options, but the board decided not to purchase an extended warranty. The company also offered a $1,000 trade in offer for one of the district's current buses, but the board decided to not trade in a bus.
The bid from Central States was for $86,674 with a $1,500 trade in offer.
According to Superintendent Brad Hagood, busses in the district run an average of 11,000 miles per year on daily bus routes alone.
Much of the discussion from the board was about the advantages and disadvantages of gas engines versus diesel engines.
Midwest sales representative Ken Pierce told the board if they looked at the long term cost of a diesel engine, they would come out ahead.
"With a diesel you will get twice as much fuel economy," Pierce said.
He also added the factor of changing the oil twice a year in gas engines versus less in diesel engines, which would increase the man hours in addition to the fuel economy cost.
"Whatever money you save initially will surpass and the diesel will come out ahead," he said.
The board unanimously approved to stay with the Missouri Educators Unified Health Plan (MEUHP) as the employee's insurance provider while increasing the cap from $580 to $600 towards each employees premium.
The district did see an increase in premium prices this year due to raising a tier level and the increase price cost per plan.
According to Hagood, the district normally falls into the third tier, but last year they were able to drop a tier. This year, the district saw their loss claims above 100 percent, resulting in moving back to the third tier.
Hagood also added other insurance companies reached out to him including Anthem.
Anthem could not promise the district would be kept in the same tier, resulting in no cost savings.
"Personally, I'm not comfortable with changing," Hagood said, for reasons benefiting the school district.
He added while the district could save a little money this year by switching companies, they could see a large increase next year.
"We have been down this road of switching insurance before and it didn't work out well," Board President John French said.
In other action:
* The district received notification they were deemed as accredited.
* The Board of Education will meet at 6:45 p.m. Monday, April 16, to reorganize following the April 3 election. The board must reorganize within 14 days from the election.
* The board approved the OPAA contract in a 4-2 vote, with no votes from board members Paul Petty and Jack Stull. OPAA Food Management specializes in serving the nutritional needs of K-12 school districts.
While the board felt they did not have much of an option with the OPAA contract, they felt the quality of food could be improved.
During Executive Session the board voted to rehire all teachers in the district for the 2018-19 school year as well as Julie Cloud as the high school counselor.
High school Principal Justin Dobbins was hired to coach junior high baseball and softball.
The board also accepted a resignation from sixth grade teacher Amy Swafford.
The next Neelyville Board of Education meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, April 16, at the Central Office board room.