Saugus School Committee OKs purchase of new vans

SAUGUS-The School Department is hoping to save a little money by spending a little money, namely for transportation.The district got stuck last year when the Sunshine Van died stranding a number of after school groups, including some of the smaller athlete teams, with no transportation to events. Out sized buses were rented to take the place of the van, which Langlois said proved costly for the district and therefore restricted travel.To get out from under that situation this spring, the School Committee voted to allow Langlois to purchase two vans for the School Department.”There is a great need,” he said.Langlois said the idea is to buy two vans and garage them at the high school, but they are to be used district wide.School Committee member Wendy Reed noted that it wasn’t only sports that needed transportation. National Honor Society, Student Council and other after school groups used the vans regularly as well.While the department is replacing only one van, the economic crisis is working in the town’s favor for once. Langlois said buying two vans at the same time would also save the district money. He is getting both for $55,000.”Buying a van will save us money and by buying two, it will save us money,” he said. “The time is right.”School Committee member Christine Wilson noted that the time is right to buy nearly any vehicle.Along with vans, Langlois also requested shifting funds within the budget to purchase some much needed furniture at for the high school and “Netbooks” for the elementary schools.Langlois said at the high school the furniture problem is such that in one classroom there is a complete smart board set up but no furniture to sit on.”None, nothing,” he said. “There are three broken desks and that’s it.”But the school has been the recipient of some donations, which Langlois said he used to retrofit a science lab, but the donations don’t cover every need.Langlois also transferred money to each of the elementary schools specifically to purchase Netbooks – small, simplified laptops with 10-inch screen.”They’re perfect for little kids,” Langlois said. “We’ll have 25 per school.”Since there is no space in any of the schools for a computer lab, Langlois said the students will work off what he called a rolling lab. Using a cart filled with modems, Langlois said the mobile lab can be rolled into any classroom, the kids can plug in and follow and interact with what the teacher is doing on a smart board or classroom computer.”Everything we’re doing we’re doing for kids,” Langlois said.