By Jillian Fontaine | Beacon seventh-grade intern

Decisive indecision won the day at the Monday meeting of the Bass Lake School Board of Education.

In a matter of minutes, the board purchased then sold a school bus citing “incomplete information” as the cause of the flip-flop.

The bus in question, a 1991 Chevy short bus, was purchased for $3,000 and sold for $2,500. The original seller and subsequent buyer is the same person, and also the daughter of superintendent Simon Greenless.

Jacqueline Greenless, 25, of rural Bass Lake, said she sold the bus to the school system on the advice of her father.

“He told me it would be an easy way to make some fast cash,” Jacqueline Greenless said. “Besides, it needs a new transmission.”

Superintendent Greenless recommended the board purchase the bus to “provide fewer walking opportunities for outlying students.”

Bass Lake Community School has never owned a bus. Most students in the district live less than one mile from all three Bass Lake schools.

“Walking is dangerous,” Greenless said. “Buses are safe and reliable. It’s a safety issue.”

The 2 to 1 vote in favor of the expenditure came as two board members were using the restroom. Upon their return, the move was contested and then reversed.

“We don’t need a damn bus,” said board member A. O. Kaye, of West Bass Lake. “Why, when I was a boy, I didn’t even have shoes!”

Kaye and board member Helen Sanderstroms, who missed the first vote, joined board president Larry Karen in overturning the bus acquisition. Jed Klimt and Maggie Sandusky were in favor.

“I’d have repainted it for half price,” Klimt said.