Once again the Fayette R-III School District came away with a perfect score on the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s school bus inspection report, which was released Tuesday, Aug. 12. All 10 of the district’s busses were approved. None were considered defective or out of service. Inspections were performed in April.

“We really appreciate the work that Mr. Beeler, our transportation director, does throughout the year to maintain our fleet of buses,” said Jill Wiseman, Fayette Superintendent.

Other area schools did fare as well on the report. Only two of eight busses at New Franklin, two of five at Glasgow, and three of five at Higbee were approved upon initial inspections. Ten out of Harrisburg’s 11 busses were approved, with one labeled defective.

However, the patrol’s report card can be somewhat deceiving. Busses considered defective or out of service at these four area schools required only minor repairs, which were performed quickly and later approved by the patrol.

For Glasgow, busses failed for relatively minor reasons, such as a buzzer that failed to sound when a rear handicapped door opened, a brake light that was out, and the failure of an emergency exit buzzer.

“Each issue was corrected within a couple of days of the inspection and passed when the Highway Patrol returned to check for updates,” explained Sonya Fuemmeler, Superintendent for Glasgow schools.

The situations were similar with busses at New Franklin. The majority of problems were caused by worn tires due to the wear and tear that tires incurred by driving on gravel roads. One bus had a broken exhaust hanger, and another had a loose shock. A final bus was considered out of service due to an inoperable parking brake, which was later found to be operator error.

All busses were repaired and passed by the highway patrol the very same day as the inspection in February.

Minor fixes were all that were required for the Higbee R-VIII fleet. Two of its five busses were labeled as defective, but were later approved. 

“The repairs to our buses were completed in the time and manner required,” explained Higbee Superintendent Danielle Tuepke.