ORANGE : School Buses Pass Test After 3 Failures

After getting three unsatisfactory ratings from the California Highway Patrol for its bus maintenance program in the past two years, the Orange Unified School District received a passing grade from state inspectors earlier this month.

Had the district’s maintenance program failed another inspection of its aging 74-vehicle fleet, CHP officials said, school board members could have faced criminal charges.

Board members welcomed the improved rating.

“It’s wonderful news,” said board President Lila Beavans. “The Board of Education regards the safety of our students as a primary concern, and this will certainly be a focus in the future.”

State officials gave the district a “conditional” rating, reporting that the buses inspected in the first week of September were “safe” for the estimated 4,000 district students who rely on bus transportation to school.

The CHP will conduct another bus inspection in six months to ensure the integrity of the district’s bus maintenance program, said CHP spokesman Wayne Hartwig.

“We want to make sure this just wasn’t a ‘brake and repair’ job and that the district has a viable maintenance program,” Hartwig said.

Between January, 1992, and May, 1993, 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 during that time, the CHP immediately ordered that 19 be taken off the road until repaired.

Conceding that they had been slow to respond to their poor bus maintenance record, school board officials allocated some $60,000 last month to fund an ongoing preventive bus maintenance program.