Washington Community Schools will soon be putting bids out for new school buses. At the recent board meeting, it was explained that through a Volkswagen grant, the district will be able to get four buses for the price of three. The new buses will be propane and all of them will have seat belts.

Superintendent Willie Stone said in video footage from a September 30th wreck where a school bus was hit by a car, the impact seat belts have on safety for students was evident, “We had one student who wasn’t wearing a seat belt while the rest of the students were, and there is a dramatic difference. The student that wasn’t wearing a seat belt, when it (the car) hit, hit their head against the wall and then shot across the seat.” He said that the student buckled in swayed slightly, but stayed in place. He said that exemplifies student safety, “It showed this why we are getting seat belts on our buses.” The bus that was hit has been repaired and is now back in the school’s fleet.