MCC's Red-Tagged Bus Fleet: Nineteen Strong and Very Red

[XLFD]

At the end of May, a school bus inspector came into the small city of Scottville and plied his trade at the Mason County Central School District.  Amid wide public speculation, many of the buses were taken out of service at the end of that week, requiring the borrowing of other district's buses to do the job of getting kids to and from school, this was considered at the time in this thread:  mcc-superintendent-keeps-public-uneducated. 

After consulting with the Michigan Department of Transportation, the agency which the superintendent of MCC originally said had done the inspection, they asserted they did not do school bus inspections and directed me to ask the Michigan State Police (MSP) who had a sub-agency that inspected buses.  However, on checking with the MSP, they insisted that they had no such records of such inspections in this sub-agency, this was further recounted about two weeks ago here:  mcc-superintendent-mount-bussed-ed

 

So in an effort to track down these inspections that no agency took credit for and that put the central part of Mason County in a tizzy for a weekend, and still defied explanation from the superintendent or any other district representative, I went back to the source that originally deflected knowledge to the public of what took place at that time to see what happened and sent a FOIA request to Superintendent Jeff Mount concerning records of these red-tagged buses.

 

                                               This was not one of the buses inspected

 

And we finally got some results (over a month later than when we should have known), courtesy of the MCC school district.  Recall, Mr. Mount originally said the buses were inspected by MDOT, and that most tags were minor.  The work of an overzealous inspector. 

 

In looking at the nineteen buses that were red-tagged, I see a lot of red, and a lot of tags that weren't minor.  Minor problems are generally marked yellow, as you will see in the records.  One of these buses, # 18, had as many as seven red tag violations.  Seven violations, when only one can take the bus out of service. 

 

Overall there were sixty-one red-tag violations among 19 buses, which means that your average bus had over three red-tag violations.  In looking over the inspections, are you more inclined to think that the bus inspector is overzealous (who does turn out to be from the MSP Traffic Safety Division-- great job once again, Michigan State Police FOIA Coordinators in not doing your job effectively) or does there appear to be a pattern of neglect on behalf of the MCC school district on maintaining the buses that are used to transport our most valuable resource, our kids?  Who is doing the better job:  the bus inspector or the superintendent?

 

The buses listed in order of appearance on the .pdf file that follows have the following problems that were noted by this inspector on the days of June 30 and 31. 

 

Bus # 1:  RED: 

Exhaust Leaks, muffler & Y-pipe back of turbo- Red,

Exterior rust above both wheel wells- Yellow

 

Bus #29:  RED: 

Exhaust leak, left exhaust manifold- Red,

Rear Emergency door rust- Red, Exhaust leak at turbo & Y-pipe- Red,

Floor cross members rusted thru and floor at rear wheels- Red,

seat holes larger than 3 inches- Yellow

 

Bus #7:  RED: 

2 seats broken at floor- Red,

Forward speaker working- Red,

Driver's seat belt webbing separating- Yellow

 

Bus #6:  RED: 

Forward speaker working- Red,

Exhaust rusted through and leaking- Red,

2 seats torn over 3 inches- Yellow 

 

Bus #26:  RED: 

Park brake fails to hold- Red

 

Bus #2:  RED: 

2 seat frames not protected by foam- Red,

Muffler rusted thru and leaking- Red

 

Bus #21:  RED: 

Right seat- 7th seat unsecured to wall - Red 

coolant leak at radiator- Red

 

Bus #14:  RED: 

Exterior rust hole, left wheel well- Yellow,

Right front shock loose- Red,

? Chairlift Manual Ramp in-op- Red,

? on exterior handle at lift door- Red,

Body spacers missing- Yellow,

1 seat frame not protected by foam- Red

 

Bus #25:  RED: 

? rust holes left and right wheel wells right rear top at overhead lights- Yellow,

Floor cross members rusted thru and floor at rear wheels- Red,

Interior rust holes-left side- Red,

Park brake fails to hold- Red

 

Bus #22:  RED:

Right side rub rails rusted thru- Red,

Left window alarm in-op, Left rub rails rusted thru- Red,

Driver's overhead mirror cracked- Red,

Rear cross members rusted through- Red,

Batteries unsecure- Red,

Interior rust holes- Red

 

Bus #24:  RED: 

Entrance door rust at bottom, sharp-edge, sangging hazard- Red,

Exterior rust holes right & left side- Red,

sharp edges on right floor rusted thru above transmission- Red,

Floor cross member right rear wheel well- Red,

Interior rust hole, left rear wheel well- Red

 

Bus #23:  RED: 

Rusted thru rub rails, right and left side- Red,

Exhaust leak at Y-pipe behind turbo- Red,

Floor cross member rusted thru & floor at rear wheel wells- Red, 

Interior rust hole left side- Red,

Monitor over headlight board, light out- Yellow,

Left crossover mirror bracket broken & protruding- Red

 

Bus #3:  RED: 

4 seat frames not protected by foam- Red,

1 seat unsecure from wall- Red,

Right rear inside tire cap coming off- Red,

Driver's seat belt webbing separating- Yellow

 

Bus #30:  RED: 

Exhaust leaks at turbo & Y-pipe in back of turbo- Red,

1 seat frame not protected by foam- Red,

Right tie rod end- Red,

Rust holes above both rear wheel wells- Yellow,

Right Emergency window alarm in-op- Red

 

Bus #18:  RED: 

Rear door rust- Red,

Right front barrier loose- Red,

No Horn, Battery box rusted through- unsecure batteries- Red,

Forward speaker working- Red,

Floor & floor cross member rust thru at rear axle- Red,

Bottom of entrance door busted and sharp edges- Red,

Interior rust holes left rear- Red

 

Bus #5:  RED: 

Rear door rust- Yellow,

Rust at rear wheel wells- Yellow,

Batteries unsecure- Red,

Forward speaker working- Red

 

Bus #27:  RED: 

Forward speaker working- Red,

Park brake failed to hold- Red,

Interior rust- sharp edges-right side- Red,

Exterior rust- left rear wheel well- Yellow

 

Bus #4:  RED: 

Rear emergency door rust hole- Red,

Muffler rusted & leaks- Red,

Unsecure batteries- Red,

Missing body spacers- Yellow,

Loose body U-bolts at rear- Yellow,

Improper mounted body clips at front by transmission- Yellow

 

Bus #28:  RED: 

Unsecure batteries- Red,

Exhaust leak Y-pipe behind turbo- Red,

Interior rust holes left side- Red,

Right Emergency window alarm in-op- Red,

Exterior rust above wheel well- Yellow

 

Bus Report MCC.pdf

[Willy]

I can understand the rust because we all suffer from that but the other violations should not have been allowed to continue. What I don't understand is if they knew an inspector was coming, why didn't they fix the problems? Are the mechanics untrained in recognizing violations or were they negligent in their work. I would not consider these violations minor especially the exhaust leaks and holes in the floorboard. When I read articles like this one I realize what a wonderful service you provide the community X. We would never have known what was going on with the buses without your diligence in getting to the truth.

[XLFD]

If an inspector classifies them as in the red condition, rather than the yellow, then that is a problem that needs to be corrected yesterday.  Eight buses had four or more red tag violations and the school had some idea that they were going to be inspected.  I think it more shows some apathy on the part of school officials.  I think this would have been forgivable, despite the evidence of long-term neglect, if Superintendent Mount didn't say his dismissive words at the time, passing the fault to a bus inspector who look like they did their job as they should. 

"We have a new bus inspector that takes his job very serious,” Mount said. “He was here last Thursday and Friday inspecting our bus fleet.  An annual thing as required by law.  I will say his timing was awful and the inspection process is not conducive to our normal bus operations this time of year as we have many special trips and athletic events along with our daily bus runs that puts a high demand on the number of buses needed each day.

“The process is an all-or-none process, if the inspector finds something that may not be in compliance with updated regulations, then he ‘red tags’ the bus until it can be remedied.  These changes cannot be done while he is here.  So, with him red-tagging some of our buses and our need to transport our students, we borrowed some extra buses from Ludington and Eastern so we could continue to provide the expected level of service our families count on.”

 

I am thinking that the superintendent was accustomed to the old inspector routinely passing the buses another year, which may have been part of the problem.  If Jeff Mount instead would have owned the situation and felt that all the red-classified safety violations were important to those parents who have their kids ride these buses everyday, dedicated himself to fixing these problems so no other inspection would be so bad, took upon himself some responsibility for the bus fleet, and noted the extent of the problem, I would have some respect for the guy. 

But the MCC school district has a board meeting the next week after this inspection, and the topic isn't even on the agenda.  Neither is it on the week's after board meeting.  This shows that this negligence will only continue to get worse until the people who pay his $125,000 a year salary to manage the district get up in arms about it.  Or some accident is caused by it.

[Willy]

Eye

One red tag is bad enough but receiving a stack of them large enough to fill a desk drawer shows that something is definitely wrong. There is no compromising with safety when it comes to children but that is exactly what the school district has done.

[XLFD]

They proceeded ahead without stopping with over 60 red lights flashing on the buses.  I would find it unacceptable if I had kids going to Scottville schools.