THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE ARTICLE BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: Westville 1st graders hold their certificates recognizing the school district’s 15 new electric buses.
WESTVILLE — Thirty-six-year school board member Shawn Bennett and 20-year member Paul Shannon cut the ribbon Wednesday morning, officially marking the new electric school buses now being used by the Westville School District.
The buses have been transporting students the past month and have had no issues, reported Superintendent Seth Miller.
Bennett and Shannon said they’re grateful for the partnerships, including with First Student, and the grant funding to get this going.
“Westville kind of leads in a lot of areas in town from time to time, and this is one we were able to kind of take this forward,” he said.
Hoopeston also has some electric school buses.
Miller said Westville has 15 electric buses, almost enough to do their entire fleet.
Added Shannon, “Like everything else in modern technology today, we seem to have to move forward. And so, we’ll see how that works out.”
Westville Judith Giacoma Elementary School teacher Megan Mitchell’s first-grade class joined the school board members, Miller, representatives with First Student bus company which provides the school district’s transportation, Vermilion Advantage and others for a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday morning to showcase the deployment of the 15 new electric school buses.
The students also got to ride on one of the new buses and received an “Electric Bus Ride Certificate” from First Student. The certificate is in recognition of Westville School District’s electric bus fleet deployed in the fall of 2024 and reads, “Westville School District remains fiscally responsible and environmentally friendly by making smart choices for a cleaner, greener and brighter future for students and the community.”
In addition to being excited in taking a bus ride during the school day, the students also were impressed that the “giant” scissors for the ribbon-cutting were real. They yelled in enthusiasm to get the event started.
The school district received $5.8 million for the new buses through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program. The new electric, emissions-free school buses are replacing diesel-fueled buses.
First Student has First Charge, an above-ground charging solution, for the transition. First Student also partnered with Ameren, which covered costs of the transformer and upgrades needed on the utility side.
Electric school buses will improve air quality in and around schools. Replacing just one diesel school bus with an electric school bus can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 54,000 pounds each year, according to First Student officials.
First Student representatives said the students can learn more about electric buses in their curriculum.
“Electric school buses are just one way we are investing in the future of our children in Westville,” Miller said.
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