Big-ticket purchases usually made by the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Community School District later in the year are on course to occur this fall.

Items specifically discussed at the Sept. 14 school board meeting are buses and technology. Superintendent Patrick Carlin recommended those purchases be made now rather than waiting until next spring.

“It sounds like a good idea to me,” Board Member David Vander Broek responded.

According to the August transportation report, six of the district’s buses have in excess of 150,000 miles – including one with nearly 250,000 – and all except the bus purchased...