FRISCO, Texas – An Illinois transportation director shared the story of how propane school bus implementation turned things around for students with special needs.
Recently retired Diana Mikelski has 32 years of experience in student transportation and, until this summer, served as director of transportation for Township High School District 211 in Illinois, overseeing 163 buses and 45 vans transporting nearly 9,000 students more than 7,700 miles each school day.
She recalled in the Blue Bird-sponsored TSD Conference Lunch and Learn Saturday afternoon that the construction of a new parking lot necessitated a change to where the school buses were parked. When school bus drivers started the ignition on the diesel vehicles, the smoke penetrated a nearby school building. Things got so bad. the principal came running out to alert the drivesr of the issue.
Seeking a cleaner energy option, she said district administrators consulted with nearby districts and chose propane as the new fuel to transition to. She received a budget of $1 million approved by Township High School District and paired it with EPA grant money to initially purchase and implement 15 propane buses, in what she described as a “seamless” process working with Blue Bird, ROUSH CleanTech, fuel provider AmeriGas, and local vendors.
Mikelski reviewed the extra particulate matter filters and treatment that older diesel buses require, which means more work and more money spent. District bus mechanics adjusted to propane well, she said.
“My shop was fine. If you can handle diesel and gas, you can handle propane,” she stated.
Fuel currently costs her $1.25 per gallon for Township, which frees up funds for bus air conditioning and other perks.
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The propane buses were a boon for special needs students, Mikelski said. An amazed special education teacher called to inform her that students were coming into school calmer, de-escalated and ready to learn. Together they discovered that the propane buses the students were riding were quieter than the diesel ones, so both drivers and students could communicate without shouting. They could actually hear the music they used to soothe themselves, and some students did not need their normal noise cancelling headphones.
“Everyone was calmer, happier getting off the bus and going into the building,” she confirmed. “It is a marked improvement.”
STN Publisher and session moderator Tony Corpin recalled that Saturday morning’s keynote by Betsey Helfrich discussing legal aspects like Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) noted that parents seeing these benefits may request propane buses in their child’s IEP.
In addition to the sound-level reduction, Mikelski shared that students in wheelchairs did not have to create makeshift blanket shields against noxious diesel fumes while loading the school buses, as they sometimes had to do. She confirmed that propane buses do not have to idle longer than 15 minutes to warm up, even in Illinois winters.
“These buses are running cleaner than anything right now,” she said, referring to the ultra-low nitrogen oxide levels of 0.02 g/bhp-hr that ROUSH CleanTech propane fuel systems are certified to meet. She added that Ford, Blue Bird and ROUSH CleanTech were more than satisfactory partners, noting she is not anxious about winter operations.
She corrected common misconceptions that propane could literally blow up the whole bus operation. Corpin reviewed the domestically produced, clean and safe nature of propane, which is commonly used to cook food via burners and grills. Mikelski said she even performed a test using a white hanky test to illustrate that propane school bus tailpipes don’t emit black soot like older diesel models can.
“Know that you’re supported,” she said. “This is a very easy way to move into an alternative fuel without a lot of angst along the way.”
