ORANGE : Schools Forced to Replace Buses

Red tags from the California Highway Patrol have forced Orange Unified School District officials to buy five new school buses.

Trustees on Thursday approved an emergency expenditure of $300,500 for the buses. Just six months ago, the district spent nearly $200,000 to replace four buses in its aged fleet.

Transportation Director Virginia Barnes, who last winter released a study highly critical of the district’s “dysfunctional” transportation system, said the red tags from CHP were not a surprise.

Barnes said she had informed the school board in March that 16 buses would have to be replaced within the school year at a cost of about $4 million.

Her study had found that a number of buses in the 80-vehicle fleet were more than 35 years old. Five new buses had been on a replacement schedule, but the county rejected the district’s bid, Barnes said.

The CHP red tags made the situation critical, she said.

“They were all buses identified as being in need of replacement,” Barnes said. “It’s just that the time line got condensed because the [CHP] was identifying these things.”

The Motor Carrier Division of the Highway Patrol had ordered the buses off the road, Barnes said, because of “body rot,” or deterioration caused by aging. All of the buses had been used to transport disabled or special education students.

Barnes told school board members that more unpleasant surprises may be in store.

“We have had notice for more inspections,” she said.