ASHTABULA COUNTY, Ohio — Some bus routes for Thursday were canceled for students attending Geneva Area City Schools after a state bus inspector identified areas that need addressing on buses in the district.
The district posted the announcement on Facebook Wednesday afternoon. Families who live on the canceled routes have been notified, the post stated.
The second annual inspection looked at nine buses. Eight of those buses had a problematic inspection. The district said it has sent out the buses to be repaired.
"Our goal is to get the inspector out as soon as possible once they are fixed in order to get them back on the road," the district said in the post.
The problems ranged from brake pads to batteries to engine lights. The latest inspection report comes just a month after another inspection in which nine out of 10 buses looked at were not up to state standards.
The latest one occurred Wednesday morning, and a few hours before afternoon pick-up, parents received texts or calls alerting them that various bus routes were canceled.
Tonya Leatherman, a parent of a kindergartener in the district, said she was scrambling to find someone to pick up her son.
"It said you need to come to pick him up and schedule a ride for him tomorrow because buses aren’t running," she said. "I had to call my mom."
Chris Bencar, another parent in the district, echoed her sentiment.
"My son would've been stuck at school until I got off of work," he said.
The frustration they expressed was similar to the messages Geneva's Board of Education received in the board meeting Wednesday evening.
"If these are simple fixes, a proactive leader would’ve already have known what was coming," said one parent. "If these buses were inspected in the morning, like the press release said, why, why, why were parents not even given a slight heads up?"
Another parent pointed to leadership problems within the district.
"The school board needs to realize there’s a massive issue in this district, with all of the problems coming up today," he said.
And Thursday, as frustration over the inconvenience of the situation faded and other plans are made for pick-up and drop-off, parents like Leatherman are concerned about safety moving forward.
"I think they should have an inspection daily just to make sure they are running properly," she said.
Bencar said he is hopeful this will lead to district leaders hiring more workers within the transportation department.
"They have enough buses; it is just the workers to work on them so that they can pass inspection and kids can get to and from school safely," he said.
Superintendent Terri Hrina-Treharn told News 5 in a statement that while they're attacking the issues with urgency, the focus remains on student safety.
"Our district was visited by the state bus inspector on the morning of Wednesday, May 17, for the second part of the routine annual bus inspection. Nine total buses were inspected, and eight were identified as having areas that needed to be addressed in the inspection report. The needed repairs were immediately started on the buses, and three have now passed reinspection. As of tomorrow morning, all of our students will be able to be transported to and from school, with the exception of one route. Four other buses have been sent out for repairs, and then they will be reinspected as quickly as possible. While we are attacking these issues with urgency, our main focus remains on student safety. We have hired a new Director of Transportation/Maintenance and Assistant Mechanic/Maintenance worker, both of whom will be joining our staff the first week of June. We will continue to give updates on this situation through our website and social media and appreciate the community's patience as we work diligently to get all buses back on the road."
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