Hey, Davis is getting his name in The Tennessean now. Article titled “Wilson County puts School Field Trips on Hold“, August 2, 2008.
Claims that the cost of diesel is too high right now for field trips, so he is putting them on hold “until we have our budget approved by the County Commission”.
Ok, so that is fine, diesel is high and buses are not the most aerodynamic vehicle out there and the things weigh a lot. So let’s save some money and limit excursions on them. That’s fiscally responsible right?
If only fiscal matters were the reason. Look again at his comment in the article and quoted above, the field trips are only on hold until the budget is approved by the County Commission.
What is going on is he is holding field trips hostage until the County Commission approves his budget. He is claiming costs, but this is about power and politics. Apparently since Hall does not have the power to install Commissioners (as he did when he cleaned house with Principals), Davis is having to use threats of not having these all important field trips, and he is doing so under the guise of money.
Ok, here is some reality. Kids generally pay $2 and up to go on field trips using the school buses. If a bus holds 50 kids, that’s $100 at the minimum paid. If a bus gets 8 mpg, and the trip is 35 miles away (downtown Nashville) then that is 70 miles total or around 10 gallons of diesel burned. That’s about $46 of gas. The remaining amount can be used to pay for the bus drivers hourly pay. Some kids on reduced lunch costs may pay less. The point is most field trips are paid for by the families now, with the county having to incur maintenance costs.
Why is Davis stopping Field Trips? Another tool to force the County Commission to capitulate to him.
It is time to get a Director who is student-centric not power-centric. It is time to get a Finance Director who is student-centric not crony-centric.
We are watching, and we are dismayed by their blatant abuse of power.
