District Could Face Charges Over Buses

With two unsatisfactory ratings for school bus maintenance in the past two years, the Orange Unified School District could face criminal charges if it fails a third inspection within the next two weeks, California Highway Patrol officials said Tuesday.

In 1992 and this May, the CHP cited the district’s bus maintenance department for more than 225 mechanical violations ranging from brake and steering problems to exhaust leaks. Of 46 buses inspected in that time, the CHP ordered that 19 be taken off the road immediately until they were repaired.

“They are reaching a critical point here,” said CHP commander John Davis, a motor carrier supervisor in San Diego. “It’s somewhat shocking to us when a school bus carrier gets an unsatisfactory rating. We are very concerned that this has not been resolved before now.”

If the district fails the upcoming inspection, Davis said he will file a criminal complaint with the Orange County district attorney’s office about 10 days after the exam. If charges are filed, the board could be placed on probation for three to five years and face possible fines, Davis said. If during a probationary period, the district failed another bus inspection, they could be hit with more fines, he added.

“We know that fines don’t repair buses,” Davis said. “We are reluctant to ask for large fines particularly from a publicly supported agency, but public safety is our goal.”

The sprawling district has schools in Orange, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Villa Park and Silverado.

School district officials blame the poor bus maintenance on their own inability to decide what to do about it, the fact that the district has had three superintendents within a year, and the age of the buses themselves.

But the officials said they are confident that their 74-vehicle fleet will receive satisfactory ratings. In a special meeting last week, the board voted to spend $60,000 on a series of measures to ensure their buses are safe.

A cornerstone of the new bus safety program, say school board officials, will be instituting a “systematized” bus preventive maintenance program. Within the next three months, the district expects to sign an agreement with the city of Orange to share expenses in the maintenance program. Until now, the district has had no preventive maintenance program, said interim school superintendent Marilyn Corey.

School board officials concede they have been slow in rectifying the trouble with their bus maintenance department. After receiving an unsatisfactory rating in February, the district still failed another bus inspection three months later.

“This is a problem which should have not taken this long to solve,” said board President Lily Beavans. “We are, of course, very concerned about the ratings because of the safety of the children.”

Of the school district’s 26,000 students, about 4,000 ride the buses to school. The new school year begins Sept. 8.

School board officials blame their delayed action on the confusion caused by having three school superintendents within 12 months, and their own inability to agree on what to do.

Officials also point to their aging bus fleet as part of the problem. The average bus has logged more than 150,000 miles and is 18 years old. One bus still in use is 35 years old.

School officials say they soon must decide on the controversial issue of whether to contract for bus services or begin replacing their buses. The board has rejected the previous proposals to contract for buses, but they also acknowledge they have limited funding to buy new buses, which cost about $150,000.

“Buses, like autos, get older and older,” Corey said. “We have to deal with that, but it’s been tough to deal with that in these days when education dollars are big bucks.”