As the Utica Shale Academy expands its Salineville campus, it is also growing its van fleet after receiving a $450,000 Rural Transport grant through the state’s biennium budget.
Superintendent Bill Watson said the community school obtained the grant in early August and plans to purchase 10 additional vans.
The academy’s current fleet has only two vehicles, which primarily transport students to and from Carroll County. The new vans will allow the school to serve Columbiana, Jefferson, Stark and Mahoning counties.
“The grant was part of appropriations in the House and Senate bill sponsored by Ohio Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel, who represents Carroll County,” Watson said. “We spoke about a need for transportation and she helped support the Rural Transportation bill. Other schools qualified, but we were the only ones to have our own transportation. That was a caveat for the grant, and we’re thankful to her for that.”
Officials are seeking quotes and have narrowed their choice to Kia hybrid vans.
“We did a cost analysis on gas mileage and that was the vehicle we thought was in our best interest,” Watson said. “We hope to have them up and moving by October.”
The superintendent said the additional vehicles will expand access for students.
“We’re looking to expand our footprint and we have the ability to provide transportation,” he said. “The other vans are for longer trips. The grant is for two years and we hope to remain eligible next year and expand our fleet into the 20s.”
The academy has also applied for a $550,000 Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant through the U.S. Department of Justice to add drivers and provide safety training. A decision is expected in October.
The COPS application follows a $452,000 School Violence Prevention Program grant awarded in 2024 that funded a security officer.
“It works symbiotically with the COPS grant we previously got and is an expansion of that,” Watson said. “It will cover drivers and training and merges the safety and transportation position. Plus, it allows us to expand our services a little bit more and ensure we do things at the level we want.”
The Utica Shale Academy serves more than 170 students in grades seven through 12. The campus includes the Hutson Building, Energy Training Center, Williams Collaboration Center, and welding sites along East Main Street, as well as the Utica Shale Academy Community Center on Church Street. The community school specializes in dropout recovery and retention, with a focus on career-technical education and workforce certifications for at-risk students.
