Woodland School says it will provide bus service for Streator, Grand Ridge, itself

Woodland School is getting back into the bus business.

This time, however, it will be serving not only its own students’ transportation needs, but also those of Streator Elementary, Grand Ridge Grade School and Streator High School students.

Woodland is well into the process of creating and managing its own bus company for at least the next three school years, from 2021-22 through 2023-24. Woodland’s school district previously operated its own buses about 30 years ago, Superintendent Ryan McGuckin said.

“Woodland used to have its own bus company, and [Streator Superintendent] Matt Seaton and I have been talking about this the past few years,” McGuckin said. “It makes a lot of sense for Woodland to house [the buses] because of the space and the bus barn we have with the ability to park more than 40 buses. ...

“We feel there is an opportunity there teaming with all four [school districts] where we can utilize the staff of the Streator area who have done this before and incentivize this for them with local control, local money staying with local money and with billing the schools for what we use, not making a profit.

“We feel like we can do it a little more efficiently.”

Projected cost savings over the current contract with Illinois Central School Bus are a major factor, and teaming up with nearby schools will allow Woodland to divide up the costs of shared equipment and employees. The 44 buses used will be leased for three years and housed at Woodland between the school building and the baseball diamond.

“This is a three-year commitment for all four of our districts to band together and make this work,” McGuckin said.

McGuckin said the goal is for each school district to save somewhere in the neighborhood of 8% to 10% on its bus transportation costs, with the initial year providing the largest savings because of state reimbursements.

“So it’s definitely worth it for the taxpayers and the school districts,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes.”