Terrebonne bus air conditioning unsettled

Students will have to continue to wait for air conditioning on Terrebonne Parish’s school buses.

The parish school board’s Building, Food Services and Transportation Committee decided that retrofitting the school fleet would become a permanent issue on the committee’s agenda until it is resolved.

At its meeting last Monday, the committee requested three specific estimates from Laidlaw Education Service, the company that leases more than half of the parish school buses.

The company was asked to compile the cost comparison of:

• Retrofitting the existing fleet with air conditioners;

• Replacing the fleet with air conditioners;

• Replacing the fleet with new air conditioned buses.

The parish has about 173 buses, 60 of which are owned by the school district. The others are leased through Laidlaw.

The committee meets again on Oct. 15, at which time chairman Hayes Badeaux said the issue would likely be resolved.