Olivia Bungum
Aksamit Transportation, Inc. will now be providing transportation services to the Morris Area School District (MASD).
Last month, the Morris Area School Board approved going out for bids for transportation services.
At the time, Board Chair Matt Johnson emphasized that the move was to see what was available and investigate if a contractor could help alleviate the struggles with staffing that the school faced.
Two bids were received, and the board faced the decision to entertain a proposal or continue down the same path they’ve been on.
The board chose to entertain a proposal, with all members except for Trevor Seales in favor.
Aksamit Transportation, Inc., as well as Palmer Bus Service, submitted bids. Though the Aksamit bid came in a little higher than Palmer’s, board member Kurt Wulf said that there were a few reasons to consider Aksamit’s.
“They’re a local, smaller company, and I feel like we would get better service from them, just in geographically how close we are with them,” Wulf added. “As well as being one of their larger customers, I feel like we could get better service for that.”
Aksamit also committed to looking into route efficiencies, possibly resulting in fewer routes and higher savings, Wulf said.
Aksamit also had a lower bid on van transportation, and would allow district employees to drive the vans, which would mean the district would only pay for the van rental. MASD is a high-use district on van transportation, Wulf said, so this would be a benefit to the district.
Superintendent Shane Monson added that Aksamit would interview the current employees and make a decision in hiring them, and would like to retain as many as they can.
“And then there’s some contractual things the district will have to work through because the bus drivers are union,” Monson added. “So we’ll have to, if that’s the direction we go, to work through that with the bus drivers’ union.”
With recent decreases in special education funding, board member Trevor Seales inquired about the care and storage of the vans used.
Mike Aksamit, owner of Aksamit Transportation Inc., said that until this point, they’ve only talked about the storage of buses and hadn’t yet considered van storage.
“I will absolutely make that a priority to have that figured out by the time school starts,” Aksamit said. “I’m not sure exactly where we would house them. I personally don’t like anything sitting outside. Image matters to me, so I would just make sure that would be a top priority.”
The agreement will be effective July 1 of this year. Aksamit will lease the bus garage from the district and purchase the fleet.
For the 2025-2026 school year, the agreement includes 10 regular school bus routes totaling 155,000 maximum combined annual miles and 172 minimum school days for a $823,050 per year minimum. For excessive mileage, there is a $2.17 per mile fee.
Donations:
$21,528.19 in donations were accepted by the board.
Donor Item Designated Purpose
Superior Industries, Inc $2,500 Trap Shooting Team Alberta Wildlife Federation $500 Trap Shooting Team Morris Lions Club 1,000 Comm. Ed Softball
Catcher’s Gear
Nancy Zimmerman $5,000 Maintenance Dept
West Central Initiative $755 Maras – Regional Industry Tours- Marketing Class
West Central Initiative $703.19 Ketterling – End of Year Staff Recognition
West Central Initiative $11,070 3rd Grade – Pod Renovation
Total Donations $21,528.19
