YULEE, Fla. — The Nassau County School District is trying to figure out how to get its money back after buying vehicles that don't meet state standards to carry students.
The vans cost taxpayers more than $100,000 and are now just sitting in a parking lot. They were bought to transport exceptional student education, or ESE, students. But they have 12 seats. According to a letter from the state Department of Education in October, in bold and underlined, it states that buses for this purpose are prohibited from transporting "more than ten persons, including the driver … There are no exceptions."
On Tuesday, an Action News Jax viewer sent us a picture he said was taken Sunday, showing the four vans parked in front of the transportation office for the district. But after our requests for information from the district Wednesday, we showed up and the buses were no longer parked in the front. They were moved all the way to the back.
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It's a mistake Director of Transportation David Buchanan, admitted to in an email, writing, "We, I, was under the impression, mistakenly evidently, that the threshold was 15 passengers."
Buchanan is also the mayor of Hilliard and didn't return our calls or answer his door Wednesday. None of the school leaders wanted to comment about the mix up. The superintendent declined and only one school board member answered our calls, saying no comment.
The vans will now go up for auction with a minimum starting bid of $20,000, according to the district. That's still $6,000 less than they paid for them.
We asked the state Department of Education why they limit how many people can be in one of those types of vans. They're researching that answer and said they would get back to us.
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