HOLLEY – The school district may start charging outside organizations $50 an hour when they use school facilities. That would help cover the district’s costs for custodial and security services, Holley officials said.

However, non-profit organizations shouldn’t expect a bill from the school, said John Heise, Board of Education president.

“I don’t want to start charging organizations that are doing good for kids,” he said.
Holley currently doesn’t charge when outside organizations use school buildings. Don Penna, the buildings and grounds superintendent, researched other schools’ policies and found many bill outside groups, with some even charging per room.

Penna suggested a $50 flat fee for each hour a group is using the school. That would be limited to building use, and not the outdoor fields.

“I would like to get to a break-even point,” Penna told the BOE on March 18. “We want to get some of our costs back for the extra work.”

Heise and the board members asked for list of all the groups that use Holley facilities. Board members said a policy could distinguish between non-profits and other organizations.

Robert D’Angelo, the district superintendent, said many rural schools don’t charge non-profit organizations.

“They waive the fees to encourage people to use the schools,” he said.

Penna said he would compile the list and make a recommendation to the board on which groups should be assessed a fee.

Heise said groups like the Girl Scouts shouldn’t worry they’ll soon be billed for using the school.

“It’s not decided that we’re doing this,” he said. “The community has already paid for the school with their taxes.”

HOLLEY – Robert D’Angelo said it is a worrisome trend, the young elementary students facing superintendent’s discipline hearings.

Those hearings are called when students face long-term suspensions, usually for more than five days out of school. Those hearings tended to involve students in higher elementary grades or middle school.

But this year D’Angelo said he is seeing students in lower elementary grades, even kindergarten.

“People and families are under stress and we’re seeing it manifest itself down to 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds,” he told the Board of Education on March 18.

The district may need to provide more services to help students struggling with social and emotional problems, he said.

Board of Education President John Heise said financial pressures are straining families. He noted the district has started a backpack program where food is sent home over weekends with some students.

D’Angelo meets with many of the struggling students’ parents, and he said those families need assistance.

“In order to be successful, we have to work with parents, but many of the parents are needy themselves,” D’Angelo said.

Press Release

During Winter Break the Holley Community Free Library held its 4th annual Art class. Five one-hour classes were attended by 15 children from kindergarten to middle school. Taught by retired Elementary Art Teacher, Laurence Dabney, the children made giant plaster flowers as well as wooden trivets. The flowers were painted with both fluorescent and scented paint.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Fran Gaylord, Holley’s transportation director at left, gives a tour of the new transportation facility on March 18. The new building features a lift, a bus wash, a vacuum exhaust system, and other improvements.

HOLLEY – Paul Niggli inspects school bus garages for the state Department of Transportation. Holley, for years, had one of the worst setups, Niggli said.Holley’s transportation department worked for decades in a cramped building. The buses were all out in the open. Making repairs was difficult in the small bus garage.

But Holley has entered the 21st Century with its new transportation facility, part of a $27 million capitol project that is transforming most of the junior-senior high school and making numerous other upgrades on the district campus.

“They did a beautiful job,” Niggli said after touring the new transportation facility with school and community members on March 18.

Fran Gaylord, the transportation director, waited for years for the improvements. He works with 30 bus employees – a group of drivers, mechanics, aids and clerical staff.

“This is so much better,” Gaylord said on the tour. “We have the room, the space, the brightness and the bus wash.”

The new transportation facility features a bus wash that will keep the windows clean and help with preventive maintenance on the undercarriage.

Gaylord pressed a button and a wash, with giant brushes and a soapy spray, went to work mechanically. Workers used to physically use long brushes and squiggees to clean the buses. It was difficult to get under the buses.

“With the rollover bus wash, the windows will be cleaner for the drivers,” Gaylord said on the tour. “The undercarriage will be cleaner. There will be better maintenance.”

Gaylord and his staff moved into the new complex on Feb. 28. The facility also includes a fenced-in parking area for the fleet of buses. A new fuel farm has a 10,000-gallon storage tank for diesel fuel and a 5,000-gallon tank for unleaded. The previous setup had 5,000- and 500-gallon tanks, respectively.

Contractors will soon tear down the metal portion of the old bus garage, which covers about two-thirds of that complex. They will keep a cinder block building. Buildings and grounds will use that for storage.

The new transportation facility sits on a portion of the 43 acres the district acquired for $163,000 about three years ago. That land includes room for five new ball fields that could be developed in the future.

Fred Seeman, a Holley school bus driver, fills up a vehicle at the new fuel farm next to the transportation facility.