Barron Jones
SUN Staff Writer
Mesa Vista School District officials saw red March 31 after a bus inspector’s findings forced several of the District’s school buses out-of-service.
A state-certified inspector red-tagged six of Mesa Vista’s 12 buses for minor infractions following routine inspections. The inspector tagged most of buses for violations like busted lights and broken heaters. Once a bus in red-tagged it’s placed out-of-service until the bus has been repaired and reinspected.
Superintendent Ernesto Valdez said the red tags were for infractions caused by everyday use.
“They have simple wear and tear like a cracked windshield, a torn driver seat belt, a loose mirror and a cracked air condition belt,” Valdez said. “It’s things like that.”
He said maintaining the buses is a challenge because they cover a lot of ground traveling the nearly 60-mile round-trip trek between the school District and Tres Piedras areas, picking up and dropping off students.
“I don’t know if you have taken a ride up here, but our roads around here are terrible,” he said. “We (have) been talking to the state transportation department to see if they can do something to repair our roads.”
Two of the red-tagged buses have been repaired, reinspected and placed back into rotation, while three are awaiting reinspections and one is waiting for major repairs.
The state Education Department mandates that every school bus operating within the state undergoes a complete inspection twice a year during the fall and spring semesters. The inspectors pore over the buses looking for minor and major infractions ranging from tires to engine repairs.
He said the District’s drivers routinely perform visual inspections before and after trips, looking for disruptive maintenance issues.
“Every time they get on the bus, they need to do an inspection,” Valdez said. “Then at the end of the trip, they are supposed to do a post inspection.”
If either of the inspections produce unfavorable findings, the driver is supposed to alert someone in the District’s transportation department about the problems.
But George Trujillo, the state-certified inspector charged with inspecting Mesa Vista buses, said that isn’t always the case.
“I’ve seen bus drivers who do their post- and pre-trip inspections and notify their transportation people to get the items fixed and you have some instances where bus drivers notify people about those issues and they choose not to fix them,” he said.
He said as an inspector, he tries to emphasize the importance that school officials should pay as close attention to school bus maintenance as they do their own cars.
“A thorough inspection with the cooperation (of the) transportation director and bus drivers leads to safety,” Trujillo said. “By doing a good bus inspection and making sure maintenance is done, (it) protects your children. It also cuts down (on) cost for school districts and I don’t think the school district realizes it is a cost-saving mechanism.”
Trujillo said the state has strict guidelines for school bus safety and any infraction, no matter how small, can lead to a red tag.
“They are pretty strict, basically,” he said. “Anything that is wrong is an out-of-service (violation) — from a tail light, to broken shocks, to a bad tire.”
School buses operating in the state are either owned by the District or a private contractor, but Trujillo said it doesn’t matter who owns the buses because they should receive routine maintenance.
A good example of a district with contractor-owned and operated school buses is the Pojoaque School District. The district owns probably two school buses while a private contractor owns 20, Trujillo said.
He said when it comes down to it, many maintenance issues are rooted in money.
“With the price of gas and vehicle maintenance going up,” he said. “People don’t realize even with a tire, it cost about $500 on up and the lights on the bus now that they switched to LED lights, some of the lights can cost as much as $200 apiece. There is a big cost in operations.”
Valdez said the out-of-service buses didn’t cause any delays.