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Case Study
Columbus Municipal School District (Mississippi)
Overview:
The Columbus Municipal School District (the District) recognized the need to safeguard the health and safety of its students and the community as a whole. While committed to reducing idling around loading and unloading areas by implementing Idling Management Policies, the District also wanted to install USEPA Verified Retrofit Technologies on most of its school bus fleet to further reduce diesel emissions. Because of the early established partnerships (which included the Mississippi state environmental agency) and an enthusiastic in-district champion, the District was technically prepared for applying and receiving funds through the Clean School Bus USA grant program. The District was able to install 52 retrofit technologies on its fleet. The District's efforts have been recognized by the media, the national and state environmental programs and have received local appreciation from the community's students and parents.
Background:
Columbus is located in the rural northeast of Mississippi and is the only municipality in the county. However, although meeting attainment, Lowndes County (where Columbus is located), remains an area of concern for the PM 2.5 and 8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Columbus has about 26,000 residents. The District has a total of 5279 students in Pre-K through the 12th grades. The District transports 3540 of its 5279 students each day, which is approximately 67% of the student population. The average bus route for the District is 90 minutes round trip. Nearly 75% of the students are eligible to receive a free or reduced lunch.
Proposal:
The Columbus Municipal School District applied for and was awarded a Clean School Bus USA grant for 2003. The Clean School Bus USA funding amount was $66,000 with a match from the District equaling $18,500. The District had proposed to retrofit 47 of its 59 diesel buses manufactured between 1990 and 2003 with diesel oxidation catalysts (DOCs). USEPA funds were to be used to retrofit 44 of the proposed 47 buses and the District's matching funds were to retrofit the remaining three (3). The District also proposed in-kind match of managing the grant and technical support from its State partners.
The District was committed to providing cleaner and safer school bus transportation for its students. Therefore, idling and pollution reduction policies were proposed to help reduce exposure to diesel exhaust, and training was proposed for drivers. One approach that was discussed was training school bus drivers to turn off their engines as soon as possible and not restart them until it was time to depart when at loading or unloading areas. In addition, classroom and parental educational tools were proposed for development.
From left to right - Dennis Dupree Sr., Assistant Superintendent for Support Services; Kristin Jones and Spencer Smith, Students at Cook Elementary School; and Edna McGill, Principal of Cook Elementary School.
The District recognized the importance of partnerships. It outlined that it would rely on working closely with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MS DEQ) and the Mississippi Department of Education (MS DoEd), as well as relying on technical support from the USEPA regional office that works with Mississippi, Region 4. MS DEQ, with input from USEPA Region 4, provided the District and its fleet operators with technical and logistical resources on engine manufacturers and USEPA verified technology vendors.
Implementation:
Once the award was made (Month 1), the District hosted a media event "Celebrating Cleaner School Buses" program (Month 2) to officially kick-off the grant and inform the community and the State of Mississippi residents about the Columbus, MS Clean School Bus USA Project. It was broadcast by a local television station as well as being covered by other press, and local and state officials were present to support the announcement. Management and staff from the Air Programs at both the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
and the US EPA Region 4 participated in the announcement.
Bid Process: A planning meeting was held (Month 3) to review the project's objectives and strategies, and the planning team included representatives from the District, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and US EPA Region 4. Through coordinating with EPA's Payment Guidance and Financial Status Report as well as the Vendor Enrollment Process, the planners were able to discuss the Request for Proposal (RFP)/Bid process for the technology vendors, as well as procurement and installation schedules. During the same month, RFPs were mailed to vendors listed on USEPA's Verified Technologies List and an ad was run in the local newspaper. The planning team reviewed, scored and selected the vendor, Waters Truck and Tractor Company in Month 4. The school board approval was secured that same month.
Representatives inspecting DOC installation on school bus. From L to R: Dennis Dupree Sr., Superintendent for Support Services; Charles Adcock and Scotty Reed, Transportation Department.
Technical Assistance: A second planning meeting (Month 5) was held to provide technical assistance by the selected vendor to the District's project staff to ensure the appropriate alignment between the project's goals (including idling reduction policy implementation) and the installation process.
Training Classroom: A Clean School Bus USA Lesson Plan was developed to educate students about how school bus pollution could be reduced in the community. Support information from USEPA's Clean School Bus USA program was used in these instructions.
Training Bus Drivers: All of the District's bus drivers were regularly informed of the project's status via weekly driver meetings facilitated by the Assistant Superintendent of Support Services (who was the Project Director) and the Transportation Supervisor. At these meetings, bus drivers were asked to share ideas and suggestions on the progress of the bus retrofit project, as well as share information about reducing bus idling times at bus stops, fuel savings as well as other related emission reduction practices. The Transportation Supervisor continued to monitor bus drivers to ensure idling reduction strategies and procedures were being effectively implemented in the district.
Scheduling Installations: Although the vendor was selected in Month 4 and the initial expectation was that once the DOCs were ordered (Month 5), delivery could be expected three weeks later (Month 6). Due to demand though, the shipping schedule was extended to six weeks, and DOCs were to be received in Month 7/Month 8. The DOCs were received in Month 7 and the Vendor immediately started installations. However, due to the District's need for the buses to be operating while the schools were in session, the majority of the installations were scheduled for Months 9 and 10 (summer break), and the last installations occurred in Month 12.
Timeline:
- Oct. 2003 - Month 1: Award
- Nov. 2003 - Month 2: Media Event
- Dec. 2003 - Month 3: 1st Planning/Technical Assistance Meeting; Technology Bid Announcement
- Jan. 2004 - Month 4: Technology Bid Reviews and Award
- Feb. 2004 - Month 5: 2nd Planning/Technical Assistance Meeting; Ordered DOCs
- Mar. 2004 - Month 6: Media coverage & ongoing school informational distribution
- Apr. 2004 - Month 7: 1st shipment of DOCs expected initially; 1st shipment of DOCs actually received earlier than expected (slight delivery delays due to increased national demand); 1st DOCs installed at end of month
- May 2004 - Month 8: Delivery delays projected that 1st shipment to be received this month, although received earlier than projected
- Jun/Jul 2004 - Months 9/10: Summer break - majority of installations occurred
- Aug 2004 - Month 11: Media coverage for back-to school announcement announcing majority of DOCs installed
- Sep 2004 - Month 12: Final DOCs installed in buses
Cost:
Purchase and installation by the certified vendor was $1,178 for each of the proposed 47 DOCs. Because this price was less than what was in initial proposal ($1500 for each DOC), an additional five buses were able to be retrofitted with catalysts, per approval of the USEPA Project Officer. Thus, a total of 52 buses were retrofitted with DOCs.
Lessons Learned:
Working with the vendors during the pre-bid and award processes is critical in assuring that delivery schedule of the technologies can be met. Because demand for the DOCs is on the rise, all parties need to be cognizant of the delivery schedules in meeting the internal timelines laid out by the District. This is especially important for the timeline that is laid out for the technology installation, where school districts only may be able to complete installations during school holidays or breaks.
Successes:
The District was very pleased with the supportive relationship it had with its collaborating partners, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and USEPA Region 4. They provided the District with outstanding technical assistance throughout the proposal, vendor bidding and installation processes.
In addition, the District itself had an incredible champion for the project in the form of the District's Assistant Superintendent for Support Services. The Assistant Superintendent served as the Project Director, and ensured that all parties were involved and on time and that the community was aware of the District's accomplishments. His enthusiasm provided great momentum to the project.
The media attention (with its project being highlighted in the School Transportation News and State and local newspapers [along with the local television station]), provided the District with some positive public relations. It not only demonstrated that the District was taking action to protect children's health but demonstrated fiscal responsibility through its idling reduction practices.