Districts Decide Which Kids Are "Cool"

Transportation officials place priority on safety and health when determining which bus routes get air conditioning

By Shanna Thompson | Associate Editor

Unfortunately, not all students on the school bus can be cool. With spring just around the corner and temperatures soon to be rising, many districts across the country will prioritize which routes enjoy climate control and which kids get to sweat it out.

Safety and health concerns are high on the list of transportation directors' reasons to provide a cool ride to and from school.

At Katy Independent School District in Texas , Materials Management Supervisor Stephen M. Loveless emphasizes that the health of the students and requirements by a physician to have a controlled environment take priority over any other factors including fuel economy. An added bonus reported by the bus drivers is that their young riders are better behaved an air conditioned buses.

Sixty-nine of the district's 381 school buses have air conditioning equipment from Carrier, Climate Comfort Technologies, Sutrak and TransAir, and 12 more buses are scheduled to have units installed, he said. Acquisition costs less than $9,000 per bus, and Katy ISD installs the air conditioning equipment in its shop.

Training for the staff came with the initial order of Katy ISD's rooftop air conditioning units, which Loveless prefers because the equipment is away from road debris and better protected from water damage. Technicians have since "fine tuned" the installation process to take approximately 40 hours per unit.

Before being placed into service, air conditioned buses in the district must pass a performance test where the vehicle is "heat soaked" for a minimum of three hours at 100 degrees or more. The air conditioning system must be able to lower the ambient temperature inside the bus 30 degrees in 30 minutes.

Paradise Valley Unified No. 69, which serves students in northeast Phoenix and Scottsdale, Ariz., has air conditioning from TransAir and Carrier on all of its special needs buses and half of its transit buses with priority given to longer routes. The district operates a total of 175 school buses and transports 9,500 students daily over 2.4 million miles each year.

System installed air conditioners cost between $3,500 and $13,000 depending on the type of bus, said Director of Transportation Jeff Cook. Though the district hasn't pinpointed the fuel economy lost by running air conditioners, he prioritizes the welfare of the bus' occupants given that temperatures inside a bus without air conditioning can be between 100 and 110 degrees on a typical summer day.

"We live in a desert with temperatures that can reach 120 degrees," Cook said. "A decision was made that it was more important to keep our drivers and students from becoming overheated due to extremely high temperatures we experience in the Phoenix area."

Paradise district also found an unanticipated benefit of air conditioning on its buses: "When we have the A/C going, the windows are up, which means we have less chance of a student throwing something out the window," Cook said.

For those students who don't make it on to an air-conditioned route, the district encourages kids to bring water in plastic bottles to help them stay cool. The dangers of becoming dehydrated and overheated become apparent a few years ago when a driver became light-headed and couldn't continue his route.

Salem-Keizer School District 24j in Oregon restricts its use of Omega PB 10500 air conditioners to two of its special needs buses, said Director of Transportation Michael Shields. The units, which maintain a temperature below 80 degrees, cost $8,850.

Students on buses without climate control are permitted to open the windows, he said, and most of the school buses used in the summer are equipped with white roofs, which absorb less heat. The Salem Keizer District transports 18,000 kids daily on 232 buses across 2.5 to 3 million miles each year.

In Arizona's Lake Havasu Unified School District No. 1, where the temperature can reach 125 degrees on state's western border with California, Transportation Supervisor Ron Nelson has Carrier air conditioning on all of his 16 routes. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion of the 940 students the district transports are the main concerns of the daily commute, and the kids are encouraged to carry water even with the climate controlled environment.

"We are happy for a 10 to 15 degree drop inside the bus," Nelson said.

Clark County School District in Las Vegas also equips all of its 1,280 buses with air conditioning from Carrier and TransAir, said Vehicle Maintenance Coordinator Frank Giordano. Ambient temperatures can reach 120 degrees, but climate control can run the school buses at approximately 80 degrees or cooler even on the hottest days.

Through his experience keeping the students safe from heat exhaustion on their bus ride, Giordano has identified particular preferences when it comes to his fleet's air conditioner installation.

"A key factor to consider when having a school bus air conditioned is that a 'factory installed' is best," he said. "Add-on units lead to many problems down the road. I would recommend that anyone wanting a bus with A/C have it installed at the factory as part of the assembly/build process."

At Pendergast School District in Phoenix , almost all of the buses - 33 of 37 - are equipped with air conditioning, both free blow and duct evaporators, from TransAir and Carrier, said Transportation Director Dean Humphrey. All regular and special needs routes enjoy a climate controlled ride, and all new school buses in the district are ordered with air conditioning. Although the initial cost is high, he said, the end result of healthy, better-behaved kids is well-worth the cost.

When weather permits, Pendergast District asks that drivers not use the air conditioner. Additionally, Pendergast participates in a voluntary bus idling program, Humphrey said, which restricts the idling time of the buses to less than three minutes and subsequently limits the use of the A/C.

"A school bus by design is a wonderful solar collector," Humphrey said. "For the safety of students and the driver, A/C is necessary for today's routes. If the kids and the driver are more comfortable, everyone wins."