Lynchburg City Schools has to improve its capital planning and be more attentive to suggestions from parents and students, according to Interim Superintendent Larry Massie.
Massie, who’s been conducting an efficiency review of the division, said he found the capital improvements plan in disarray when he arrived last year.
“It just didn’t make sense,” he said. “It wasn’t in priority.”
Last week — when school leaders submitted a more than $2 million capital spending plan for City Council’s approval — Councilman Jeff Helgeson criticized them for not presenting the requests before last month’s school bonuses were approved.
Massie said the proposal was not ready at the time because all the projects had to be reevaluated. School visits were conducted, parents and staff consulted, and new priorities were set, he said.
In the future, Massie said, the division needs to maintain a clear plan that is updated annually and adhered to carefully. Lack of an organized plan results in needs piling up and has created problems like an aging bus fleet.
Currently, Lynchburg’s school division is saddled with 36 buses that are more than 15 years old — almost one-third of its fleet. Next year, another 12 buses will hit the 15-year mark.
Fifteen years is the generally recommended replacement age for buses, Massie said, although he personally favors a 10-year replacement cycle.
The proposal approved by City Council last week includes money for eight new school buses. Funding will come from the division’s 2010-11 surplus.
School officials have also asked for another $800,000 from the city for new buses in 2012-13. If the request is granted, the division expects to buy five full-size school buses, two special education buses and two activity buses.
The development of a more cohesive capital improvements plan will be part of Massie’s recommendations to the school board when he presents the results of his efficiency review in March.
The recommendations will also urge the division to listen more carefully to the feedback of parents and students. Several of the projects included in last week’s proposal were advocated for by the schools’ parent-teacher organizations.
Efforts to improve the division’s future capital planning are already under way, Massie said.
“We want to do this in the interest of efficiency,” he said last week in remarks made to council. “The efficient way to do things is to have a plan and then adhere to the plan.”
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