NEW ULM — The District 88 School Board received an update Thursday on the school’s transportation and the school resource officer programs.

New Ulm Bus Line president Damian Bennet said the company has worked with the district since 1986. The company also leases school buses to about a dozen other districts, he said.

Bennett said recruiting bus drivers is a challenge. He believes there is a misconception about what is required to do the job. They are working to change this perception.

General Manager Joseph Rakowski said currently the company has enough drivers for the regular routes but could use more activity drivers.

New Ulm Bus Line has 65 vehicles, the majority of which are school buses. They run 20 regular routes with additional special needs routes. There are also school-to-school shuttles to transfer students between the buildings. A new route was added to Gibbon for students enrolled in New Ulm.

In terms of bus security, all of New Ulm Bus Line’s vans and a few buses have surveillance cameras as another layer of protection for identifying behavioral issues. The bus line is working to place more cameras on buses.

Stop-arm cameras is a new feature coming to Minnesota school buses. The state has been awarded grants for stop-arm cameras. New Ulm Bus Line was awarded one of the grants in the first phase.

This year, two buses with these cameras had stop-arm violations and were able to use the footage to confirm a violation.

Rakowski said they are applying for the next phase of the grant. The goal is to put one of these cameras on every bus.

Superintendent Jeff Bertrang said the way the stop-arm law is written, the person who ran through the stop arm must admit to it, otherwise it is the bus driver’s word that the violation happen. With the stop-arm cameras, bus drivers have physical evidence.

SRO’s primary goal is safety

Officer Andy Achman gave an update on the school resource officer program, which has been in the district since 2006. Achman has served as the SRO for two years.

Some districts use the term school liason officer, but Achman said he prefers SRO because he wants to be a resource for the students. A top goal of the SRO is to be a connection between law enforcement and the community and the primary goal is safety. If an incident occurs at the school, an officer is on-site to respond and alert other law enforcement officers.

Achman said he does assist with staff training for emergencies. The school does have an Emergency Crisis Plan as a guide. Achman acknowledged it was not possible to prepare for every contingency, but the plan can guide students and staff through many scenarios.

“The big thing we try to push is common sense,” Achman said.

Lockdown and intruders are high-profile issues. Achman is a certified instructor in ALICE — Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. Achman said schools have learned since Columbine that simply hiding under a desk does not work.

Bertrang said when ALICE training is done at the schools, it is tailored to be age-appropriate.

Achman said he tries to visit Jefferson, Middle School and High School once a week, but it varies based on need. The high school has more young adults driving, creating greater demand.

Dispelling rumors

In a building update, Bertrang clarified the new high school is large enough to accommodate the new students. He wanted to address rumors the high school was built too small. The most recent ninth grade is larger than previous grades, with 200 freshmen, but Bertrang said the school is large enough for the additional students. The school did order additional lockers for the building, but because of supply chain issues the locker did not arrive before the start of the year.

It was also noted the school was built with learning stations in the hallway. This means students are occasionally in the hallways learning during class time. This led to a rumor that limited class space had forced students to work from the hallway.

Bertrang said students do work in the hallway, but all are assigned to classrooms.

Bertrang the school could get another large freshmen class next year. The middle school has seen a lot of transfers. There were recently 48 transfers to the middle school, but they were coming at different grade levels.