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FALCON, COLO. -- An e-mail sent by Falcon District 49 School Board Vice President Chris Wright is causing a stir among some D49 employees who said the e-mail is offensive.

At the last school board meeting board members voted to terminate the bus service system that is currently in place at the end of the year. They also voted to look at other options for getting kids to school.

In an e-mail to a parent, Wright said the transportation department needed a "time-out" to find ways to cut expenses and extend services, but some D49 employees said his e-mail was offensive.

Wright said it was his intention to motivate the transportation department to find ways to save money, not offend anyone.

But a D49 employee said the transportation department has always been motivated, and that his words were hurtful.

"I was personally offended," the D49 employee, who did not want to be identified, said. "Transportation works very hard to keep efficient routes."

The employee, who is a bus driver, said the e-mail by Wright, where he states that the transportation department will now be more motivated to find cheaper and more efficient ways to transport children, implies that the transportation department wasn't doing their job.

"That implies that we as a transportation department were not motivated before," the employee said. "We are very motivated. We are motivated to keep our kids safe, transport them safely, timely and efficiently."

Wright said as a board member it his job to hold the district financially responsible, and that's what he was trying to do.

"We expect this district and all of the departments in it to just that, take a little time out, figure out where your processes are, increase your effectiveness, expand your services, and at the same time decrease your expenses," Wright said.

Wright said he doesn't want bus service to go away, but he does want to find a more cost effective way for it to run.

"I have a vote, and I can tell you that my vote will not be to terminate busing, but what it will be is to make it more efficient," Wright said.

Still, bus drivers said the way the district has gone about looking for change is very unsettling.

"When the school board votes to terminate transportation, which is what it said on the board agenda, then yeah people are in a panic," the employee said. "They look at the unemployment rates now, so they are very frightful of losing their jobs."

Federal law does not require school districts to provide transportation, but both Wright and bus drivers agree that getting kids to school is important.

"You can not deny that the state is cutting everybody's budget," the employee said. "Every school district is facing budget cuts, and we in transportation understand that, but its that case of the chicken and the egg, which comes first? How can you educate a kid if you can't get them to school?"

The transportation department is preparing to present several options to the school board in the next few months.