Technicians
Don Harman and Ron Alvey balance the wheels of a school bus at the Alpine
School District Transportation Depot in American Fork on Friday, Nov. 7, 2014.
The district's six technicians are tasked with maintaining 311 buses. SPENSER
HEAPS, Daily Herald
ALPINE
-- In state-mandated
inspections performed by the Utah Highway Patrol, nearly half of the school
buses used in Alpine School District have been deemed unsafe.
Completed
in October, UHP’s inspections placed 45 percent of Alpine’s buses “out of
service,” meaning officials found a variety of defects based on criteria that
requires buses to be repaired before transporting kids again.
The
percentage of out-of-service buses in Nebo School District was about 8 percent,
and in Provo City School District was about 5 percent.
Alpine,
the largest and fastest-growing school district in the state, also has the
highest rate of buses out of service in the state, according to Sgt. Jason
Kelsey, a UHP officer who oversees the bus inspections in Utah County.
“Surely
something in Alpine district is broken," Kelsey said. "You don’t need
to talk to a driver to figure that out. Just look at the reports."
But the
district’s transportation department sees things differently.
“The
challenge we face is that we are the fastest-growing district in the state,”
said John Patten, assistant to Alpine’s superintendent. “We face an aging fleet
of buses and we try to get our money’s worth from each bus.
"That’s
great for taxpayers, but everyone wants to know our kids are safe.”
Why
Alpine’s performance is poor is a puzzle, with the biggest piece being the
mechanic-to-bus ratio.
The
National Association for Pupil Transportation recommends a 24-to-1
bus-to-mechanic ratio. Alpine’s ratio is more than double that at 52-to-1, said
Jeremy Wardle, who manages Alpine’s fleet of 311 buses.
“In the
classroom, when class levels reach a certain ratio, the district hires a new
teacher,” Wardle said. “Every year we buy more buses but don’t increase our
mechanical staff. We get spread thinner and thinner, until we just can’t keep
up.
"My
solution would be a recommendation to establish a minimum ratio of 25-to-1 to
adequately maintain buses.”
The
district recently approved funding for one more bus mechanic, which will bring
the ratio down to about 45-to-1. But that’s still far above the second highest
ratio in the state, which Kelsey said is about 31 buses per mechanic.
District
transportation departments are funded partially by the state, but money also
comes from unrestricted funds allocated by the school board. All parties agree
more funding could solve the problem.
Of
course, transportation isn't the only area that needs more funding.
“The
reality is you can put a dipstick into any area of the school district and pull
it out and say, why aren't you addressing this need? From teacher salaries to
administrator-to-student ratio,” Patten said.
But
funding isn't the only answer. Kelsey said UHP has done several training
sessions with Alpine School District, but drivers continually fail to do
pre-trip inspections, which they are required to do each morning.
If 120
Alpine buses have been deemed unsafe by UHP officers, an important question is
whether those buses are used to transport Alpine’s students.
UHP’s
Kelsey said he is “sure that occurs on a regular basis,” especially so soon
after the inspection. But Wardle said he wouldn’t let children ride on an
unsafe bus.
The
answer, then, depends on who you ask what “safe” means.
The
criteria for “out-of-service” buses is determined by UHP, the Utah Department
of Transportation and the Utah State Office of Education, and includes an
extensive list of problems of varying severity that make a bus unsafe for
riders. If a bus has just one problem, the bus is placed “out-of-service” and
should not be used to transport pupils until the problem or problems are fixed.
Some of
those problems are serious, like defective brakes or a cracked axle. Others
could be interpreted as minor, like a loading light that’s burned out or a
driver’s seat that isn’t adjusting properly.
Kelsey,
who has worked in school bus safety for eight years, said he doesn’t think any
of the criteria are minor.
“All
those standards are worth it, in my opinion,” he said. “Are there
out-of-service items that some mechanic could look at and say it’s not a big
deal? I guess a mechanic could say that. ... But UHP isn’t OK with it.”
But
Wardle said that to declare 45 percent of Alpine’s buses unsafe on the road is
“unfair.”
“It’s
more accurate to have a better criteria system rather than say they’re ‘out-of-service,’
" Wardle said. “To consider anything that’s out-of-service to be
life-threatening is really unfair.”
He said
many of the out-of-service items that make a bus unusable are easy to fix. And
he worries UHP inspections aren’t consistent — some buses get labeled
out-of-service, but others with similar problems don’t.
There is
no legal method for UHP to enforce the requirement that out-of-service buses
not transport kids, even though it does pull off the road all commercial
vehicles that violate the same standards.
The
districts are given 15 days to repair the out-of-service buses, but even if
they do so, there is no avenue for reporting those repairs. Follow-up
inspections aren’t performed.
Amy McDonald. Heraldextra.com.
