The Parkland School Board directors have accepted a bid of $537,709 from Levengood Excavators Inc. for the parking lot expansion at the operations center under construction along Stadium Drive.

At the March 18 meeting, the board also awarded a bid of $91,025 to Alicon Environmental Inc. for abatement at the 3599 Broadway property.

The site, alongside Cetronia Elementary School, is being cleared and restored to environmentally safe conditions.

School board directors went on to approve the purchase of eight 72 passenger buses from Rohrer Bus Service at a cost of $1,174,720.

The amount is derived from a unit price of $147,640 plus $6,400 trade-in value for eight buses.

During the March 10 committee review of the topic, board member Chris Pirrotta asked why the trade value is so low.

Anthony Naradko, director of safety, security and school services, explained the trade-in buses are at least 17 years old and are not worth much.

The district also received bids for the buses from Wolfington and Brightbill, but Rohrer came in at the lowest.

Moving on, the board accepted a bid from Rohrer for the purchase of one 36-passenger bus for $137,378.

The unit price was $138,178, but the final amount included a trade-in value of $800 for one bus.

Pirrotta asked the reason for the purchase of one 36-passenger bus.

Naradko replied several schools served by Parkland do not require a full bus, and in some road conditions, a smaller bus is easier to operate.

Pirrotta then asked how it works out to transport charter and nonpublic students with only a few people on the bus.

Naradio replied the district ties many routes together to fill a vehicle and sometimes uses a van instead of a bus.

Naradko said the new buses are for the 2025-2026 school term and will be delivered in May or June.