FORT MYERS, Fla. — On Thursday, those in charge of Lee County School District buses said they're working to fix problems identified in a state education department audit.
Roger Lloyd, the Director of Operations at Transportation Services for the school district said that 120 buses were state inspected.
He confirmed that four were cited for having incomplete safety inspections.
That includes one report, showing 28 broken seat belts.
“It was inspected it should not have been missed...it was a spare bus but still no excuse,” said Lloyd.
Lloyd said that the bus is not in service, but he could not tell me the last time it picked up students.
The audit also shows other issues, like tire tread not being recorded.
Per Florida state law, school buses need to be inspected every 30 school days.
“There was a little discrepancy or confusion as far as the days,” said Lloyd.
Lloyd blamed that discrepancy, on not having a computer scheduling system.
He said that means right now having to schedule preventative maintenance (PM) by hand.
“And we are in the process, and have been for a little over a year now, of automating that whole PM schedule,” said Lloyd.
That automation, Lloyd said, should soon mean a solution he feels that will keep this from happening again.
“Usually the question I get is, would you let your kid on the bus, and I do, I have a middle schooler who rides the bus every single day, so these buses are safe,” said Lloyd.
The audit says service managers and supervisors should be retrained with emphasis on complete and thorough safety inspection and student safety in accordance with state and federal law.
The documents also say that the school district needs to complete the District School Transportation Monitoring Self-Evaluation by September 1, 2022.
