POLSON — The Polson School District Board of Trustees approved on Monday the purchase of a new team bus amid budget talks and a full agenda at the monthly meeting.

The proposed 2009 International 48 passenger bus is listed at a total cost of $138,679.46 and will add to what superintendent Sue McCormick said was a undependable fleet of three older team buses. The board unanimously voted to approve the motion.

The bus will come with an overhead luggage rack, six-monitor DVD systems and regular school bus seats. High school principal Rick Rafter said he and athletic director Scott Wilson agreed that the bus meets the extra curricular teams’ needs. The district will trade in a 1984, 43-seat T-4 team bus for $5,000 to go toward the new bus, district transportation director Doug Duncan said. The bus will have a standard school-bus-yellow paint.

A report from the budget committee recommended that, because of tough economic times, no mill levy be proposed for the upcoming year.

School outreach coordinator and budget committee member Marsha Anson presented a set of statistics showing how Lake County and Montana have been heavily impacted by the tough times, and said the recommendation for no levy was based heavily on soaring unemployment percentages.

“We felt that our community is really hurting . . . We felt like we’re a part of the relationship and we can’t go out and ask for money (the community) doesn’t have and are afraid to spend,” Anson said.

As the board looks to upcoming budget considerations, the budget committee also presented proposed budget numbers from several sources and recommended that the high school deficit be eliminated, a one-time 2008-09 expenditures be withheld and that a 10 percent reserve be maintained.

A special budge committee meeting will be held at 5 p.m. on Feb. 23 in the high school library. The decision on whether a mill levy will be proposed must be made by March 26. Russell said he expects a full discussion of the issue at the March 9 meeting.

Ad-Hoc Random Drug Testing Committee chairman Vernon Finley reported that the community forum held in January provided a lot of information. The committees next step will be to pool the comments and go forward with formulating a policy based on the input, but also factoring in the legal and many other facets that come with a extra-curricular drug testing policy.

No dates for further drug testing committee meetings have been set. Finely did say after the meeting that it is his intention to have a policy written by the end of the school year.

A “parent concern” issue on the agenda was briefly addressed by board chairman Mark Russell near the beginning of the meeting. Russell informed those attending that the complaint addressed in a letter to the district from a parent is still under investigation. Several attending wondered why the issue was not being more thoroughly addressed by the board. Chairman Russell assured the attendees that the proper and legal avenues were being addressed and that the issue must remain “on hold.”

Nearly five residents apparently attending to discuss the “parent concern” issue left as the next agenda item was introduced.

Facilities committee member John Laimbeer reported that there is a possibility of funds being allotted to the district from a federal economic stimulus plan, but the numbers change nearly daily as version of the plan go through the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. He said that the committee does have plans and several projects prepared if money is allocated.

The superintendent contract has been signed, Russell said after the meeting, cementing David Whitesell as the incoming superintendent. An early summer transition is planned. Whitesell is currently the superintendent for the Twin Bridges School District.