How safe are school trips?
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 11:16 am
Few districts check bus firms' records
By MICHAEL GRABELL / The Dallas Morning News
Parents rely on schools to provide safe transportation when their children go on field trips.
But few school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area know the safety record of the charter bus companies they hire, check the backgrounds of their drivers, or inspect their vehicles.
Instead, they take the word of companies at face value and depend on overtaxed federal and state inspectors who use a flawed safety rating system to take dangerous bus companies off the road, according to an analysis by The Dallas Morning News.
The gaps leave risks. According to recent complaints filed by school officials:
•A bus full of Richardson sixth-graders could have gone up in flames after the driver rewired the bus's electrical system with a coat hanger.
•Plano band members had a driver who had to wipe his face with a wet cloth just to stay awake.
•And a Garland Spanish class was about to board a bus with a tire in such poor condition that the district's mechanic said it "could disintegrate at any time."
After 23 Hurricane Rita evacuees were killed when a charter bus burst into flames near Dallas in September, The News reviewed the safety records of bus companies hired by 26 public school districts in the area.
Most schools use well-known companies rated highly by government regulators and in good standing with the Better Business Bureau. Officials said they put safety first, relying on recommendations from other districts and having teachers and coaches fill out customer satisfaction surveys.
But even hiring good companies didn't stop situations that put children on dangerous buses with dangerous drivers.
"A charter company looks good on paper, but then who arrives at 6 o'clock in the morning to take the music class across the state could be a bus driver who's not in compliance," said Jim Ellis of the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute in Syracuse, N.Y. "What we recommend is up-close and personal scrutiny."
Questions to ask
Government regulators, safety advocates and bus industry groups recommend that school districts check a company's accident history and inspection record, get proof of insurance and ask a series of questions related to driver training, drug and alcohol testing and subcontractors.
But the vast majority of the 26 districts don't follow all of these recommendations. Because there is no state or federal standard specifically aimed at how to screen a charter bus company, methods vary.
School districts, such as McKinney, Irving and DeSoto, don't have a districtwide contract setting universal guidelines for charter bus trips. The search for a good company instead falls on booster clubs and student groups, whose leaders don't always know what to look for.
Other districts, such as Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Highland Park and Rockwall, handle charter bus contracts the same way they would any other business: Companies must notify them if the owner or manager has been convicted of a felony and provide a list of references. Districts reserve the right to investigate but seldom do.
Plano hires a travel agency to find charter buses. Dallas requires all buses to be newer than 1997. Garland requires samples of daily inspection checklists. Grand Prairie requires proof of a defensive driving course.
But sometimes school officials who think they're being diligent don't know who is actually transporting students because the company or bus broker they hire doesn't tell them it's using a subcontractor, or the name of the company. The News found that only six D-FW districts require a list of subcontractors in their bid requests.
"That's usually where everybody gets into trouble," said Charley Kennington, school transportation director for the Texas Department of Public Safety. "You need to do a safety check on that other company. You don't just assume they have everything they're supposed to have."
Background checks
State law forbids charter bus companies that do business with schools from using drivers who have been convicted of a felony to transport children. But it is the responsibility of the company – not the school district – to check the drivers' criminal records.
If a parent wants to make sure that's being done, they're out of luck. Most D-FW schools rely on the company's word. Grand Prairie's contract is typical. It asks: "Are criminal and civil arrest/charge records checked?" "Yes" or "No."
But the companies don't always perform the background checks. Central West and Cowtown Charters – each used by a third of local districts – were cited in their last federal safety audits for failing to make annual checks into employees' driving records.
Cowtown said some employees had gone two months too long without a check in 2001 because the company changed the time of its annual update. Central West said the company had a different manager during its 1999 check. Both companies said they have since tightened procedures, and both have good safety ratings. Federal inspectors have not audited either company in the last five years.
Most schools don't keep their own lists of a company's bus drivers.
Lewisville schools do, but as in most districts, administrators don't perform background checks themselves.
"That to me is a flaw in the whole system," Mr. Kennington said. "You don't know who you have out there as a driver. Is this a sex offender who's driving this bus? Hopefully, the company that you've hired has some scruples about them."
Lewisville administrators began requiring companies to provide them with a list of drivers who passed the background check after a series of problems in May.
On a seventh-grade trip to the state Capitol, a teacher and a driver were arguing over the volume of a movie being shown on the bus. The driver told her to stand up and raise the volume. As she did, the driver slammed on the brakes, causing her to fall down the stairs and hurt her face, leg and back, according to a complaint filed by the school.
"There were NO vehicles in front of or to the sides of our bus so the sudden stop did not seem necessary," read the complaint from a Lamar Middle School teacher.
Students also reported seeing the driver give the middle finger to another driver. Later, he repeatedly took his eyes off the road to watch the students' movie. When another teacher confronted him, he replied, "I only watch when there is no traffic," the complaint said.
The driver disputed the allegations, but the company, Gotta Go Express Trailways of Fort Worth, fired him. The company said he had passed its background check before he was hired. The school district says it was the only problem it's ever had with the company.
"Our assumption is that a criminal background check was done," said Rick Coulter, Lewisville purchasing director. "I don't have data that shows me that I can concretely say that, yes, a criminal background check was done."
Gotta Go – the most popular bus company used by local school districts – is now rated "satisfactory," according to federal regulators. Records show that it was given an "unsatisfactory" rating in 2002 after inspectors found that the company failed to conduct alcohol testing as frequently as required.
The owner, Donald Dinger, said that the company has improved and that its popularity with schools attests to its safety.
He added that he agreed with safety advocates that schools should be proactive and said he believes most companies would be open to inspections and background checks.
Mr. Ellis, of the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute, said Texas officials might consider a program like one in New York, which maintains a centralized roster of charter bus drivers who have passed a criminal background check to transport children. School officials there get the names of drivers and possible substitutes before field trips and call a hotline to verify that they've passed the check.
On day of trip
Even if schools could be assured that their drivers had clean backgrounds, it takes extra scrutiny the day of the trip to ensure that the bus that shows up is in good condition and the driver is ready to go, safety advocates say.
"The people who are taking the trip have no clue as to what to be looking for," said Bill Tousley, president-elect of the National Association of Pupil Transportation and a school transportation director in suburban Detroit. "It's just a matter of good faith that the company is going to provide what they're supposed to be providing."
On Plano's Jasper High School band trip to San Antonio in April, the tour company told the band director that the drivers would be returning late from a trip the night before and would need an extra hour to get the rest required by government regulations.
But the band still had problems.
"After we left the truck stop, the new driver on the 47-passenger bus began to have trouble staying awake," band director Jackie Digby wrote in a complaint. "Our parents on that bus gave him food and wet cloths to wipe his face. They also kept him engaged in conversation."
The driver told him, Mr. Digby wrote, that he didn't get home the night before until 1 a.m., just seven hours before he arrived for his morning trip from Plano to San Antonio. Bus drivers are required by federal law to get eight hours of rest after a full day of work.
In 2004, the Richardson district encountered problems even though it hired Coach USA – a nationwide company with a good safety record – for Mohawk Elementary School's annual trip to the state Capitol.
On the way back, the bus kept losing power. The driver called Coach USA's mechanics, who told him to wire a coat hanger from the alternator to bypass a faulty part of the electrical system, according to a complaint filed by John Kelly, Richardson's transportation director.
The bus made it home safely, but Mr. Kelly was alarmed.
"The use of a coat hanger, as uninstalled wiring, is unreliable at best and could have resulted in heat buildup leading to a fire," he wrote.
Mr. Kelly confirmed the details of the incident in an interview with The News, and he said he spoke to another Coach USA manager, who expressed concern about how the bus was fixed.
Gretchen Loyd, general manager for Coach USA, said Thursday that the incident was a misunderstanding, and a coat hanger was never used to repair the bus. She said she wasn't in charge in 2004 but had pulled the work order, which noted that the bus shut down because of a broken sensor that causes the bus to stop to avoid overheating.
Mr. Ellis said school officials could do many things to ensure safety on the day of the trip. He and Mr. Kennington of DPS suggest appointing a liaison with mechanical expertise to do a walk-around inspection of the bus.
That person should also talk to the driver and check his license and logbook to ensure he's properly trained and isn't tired, Mr. Ellis said.
If a district contracts with a company for trips throughout the year, the liaison should develop a close relationship with the company, periodically checking its facilities and talking to its mechanics, he said.
"The stakes are so high, and the margin of error when you're transporting children is so small," Mr. Ellis said.
Some D-FW districts try to be vigilant with extensive questionnaires tied to their charter bus contracts.
Six of the 26 districts reviewed by The News, including Arlington and Mesquite, use a questionnaire asking, for example: Have driving records been checked? Does the company have a drug and alcohol policy? Do you have a preventive maintenance program?
But the surveys are often limited to yes-no questions. Grapevine-Colleyville's charter bus contract goes further. It specifically states that the district may perform unannounced inspections of the company's buses and maintenance and training programs. It also allows the district's field trip coordinator to conduct road tests of the company's drivers and requires the company to provide drivers' logs and daily bus reports upon request.
The district can fine companies for not complying or for having an unsanitary bathroom. Broken air conditioning costs $150 a day, according to the contract.
Grapevine-Colleyville transportation director Steve Bond says his district includes those requirements to ensure that the bus company stays safe. He said he does a surprise inspection once a year.
"For our peace of mind as a district, we like to randomly go out and inspect the carrier to make sure they're up to date on DOT physicals, the random drug testing policies, proper licensing of their drivers and their equipment, make sure the repairs and preventative maintenance is acceptable for their equipment," he said.
Garland purchasing director Mark Booker credits his district's safety checking program for catching a potentially dangerous maintenance problem in November.
When seventh-grade Spanish students from the Austin Academy for Excellence were getting ready for a trip to San Antonio, one of the parents noticed that a tire was missing a chunk of rubber and that metal was showing.
The district called one of its mechanics out who said, "he thought the tire could disintegrate at any time," principal Ann Poore wrote.
The company said it missed the problem because of the way the tire was positioned during its morning check. It wasn't until well after the trip that the district administrators learned that their contractor, Eagle Tours of Irving, had subcontracted with another company, Gene's Charters of Burleson.
Garland's 66-question survey doesn't ask about subcontractors.
Mr. Booker said the district would hold the contractor accountable by refusing its business if it continually had a problem with subcontractors.
"If we were to have a list of those companies, it wouldn't be that advantageous," he said. "Once we enter into a contract with that company, that contractor is responsible."
Gene's Charters doesn't have a poor safety record, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's rating system. None of its nine buses or 19 drivers have had serious enough violations for an inspector to take them off the road.
But it has only had two roadside inspections in 21/2 years. Because of the lack of information, the department has flagged it for mandatory inspections.
About a third of the bus companies used by D-FW school districts have been marked for mandatory inspections because government regulators don't know enough about them.
Inadequate data is a persistent problem for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the arm of the Department of Transportation that regulates bus and truck companies. With 684,000 companies and 6.5 million commercial drivers in the U.S., the agency struggles to identify the dangerous ones.
Even though the company involved in the Hurricane Rita bus fire saw its driver safety rating fall to worse than 97 percent of all bus companies, the computerized system for prioritizing checks didn't flag the company for a full-scale safety audit, The News reported in October.
The United Motorcoach Association, which represents the busing industry, puts out its own guide for schools. It also recommends that districts review the safety record online, check subcontractors and ask about driver qualifications.
As long as school officials do their homework, students will be safe, association president Victor Parra said. The majority of bus companies are professional and put safety first.
"We know the risks of carrying people as opposed to rutabagas," he said. "That puts an enormous pressure on these guys. One slip-up, and your company's gone, your house is gone, your entire future is gone. We can't put safety at risk."
By MICHAEL GRABELL / The Dallas Morning News
Parents rely on schools to provide safe transportation when their children go on field trips.
But few school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area know the safety record of the charter bus companies they hire, check the backgrounds of their drivers, or inspect their vehicles.
Instead, they take the word of companies at face value and depend on overtaxed federal and state inspectors who use a flawed safety rating system to take dangerous bus companies off the road, according to an analysis by The Dallas Morning News.
The gaps leave risks. According to recent complaints filed by school officials:
•A bus full of Richardson sixth-graders could have gone up in flames after the driver rewired the bus's electrical system with a coat hanger.
•Plano band members had a driver who had to wipe his face with a wet cloth just to stay awake.
•And a Garland Spanish class was about to board a bus with a tire in such poor condition that the district's mechanic said it "could disintegrate at any time."
After 23 Hurricane Rita evacuees were killed when a charter bus burst into flames near Dallas in September, The News reviewed the safety records of bus companies hired by 26 public school districts in the area.
Most schools use well-known companies rated highly by government regulators and in good standing with the Better Business Bureau. Officials said they put safety first, relying on recommendations from other districts and having teachers and coaches fill out customer satisfaction surveys.
But even hiring good companies didn't stop situations that put children on dangerous buses with dangerous drivers.
"A charter company looks good on paper, but then who arrives at 6 o'clock in the morning to take the music class across the state could be a bus driver who's not in compliance," said Jim Ellis of the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute in Syracuse, N.Y. "What we recommend is up-close and personal scrutiny."
Questions to ask
Government regulators, safety advocates and bus industry groups recommend that school districts check a company's accident history and inspection record, get proof of insurance and ask a series of questions related to driver training, drug and alcohol testing and subcontractors.
But the vast majority of the 26 districts don't follow all of these recommendations. Because there is no state or federal standard specifically aimed at how to screen a charter bus company, methods vary.
School districts, such as McKinney, Irving and DeSoto, don't have a districtwide contract setting universal guidelines for charter bus trips. The search for a good company instead falls on booster clubs and student groups, whose leaders don't always know what to look for.
Other districts, such as Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Highland Park and Rockwall, handle charter bus contracts the same way they would any other business: Companies must notify them if the owner or manager has been convicted of a felony and provide a list of references. Districts reserve the right to investigate but seldom do.
Plano hires a travel agency to find charter buses. Dallas requires all buses to be newer than 1997. Garland requires samples of daily inspection checklists. Grand Prairie requires proof of a defensive driving course.
But sometimes school officials who think they're being diligent don't know who is actually transporting students because the company or bus broker they hire doesn't tell them it's using a subcontractor, or the name of the company. The News found that only six D-FW districts require a list of subcontractors in their bid requests.
"That's usually where everybody gets into trouble," said Charley Kennington, school transportation director for the Texas Department of Public Safety. "You need to do a safety check on that other company. You don't just assume they have everything they're supposed to have."
Background checks
State law forbids charter bus companies that do business with schools from using drivers who have been convicted of a felony to transport children. But it is the responsibility of the company – not the school district – to check the drivers' criminal records.
If a parent wants to make sure that's being done, they're out of luck. Most D-FW schools rely on the company's word. Grand Prairie's contract is typical. It asks: "Are criminal and civil arrest/charge records checked?" "Yes" or "No."
But the companies don't always perform the background checks. Central West and Cowtown Charters – each used by a third of local districts – were cited in their last federal safety audits for failing to make annual checks into employees' driving records.
Cowtown said some employees had gone two months too long without a check in 2001 because the company changed the time of its annual update. Central West said the company had a different manager during its 1999 check. Both companies said they have since tightened procedures, and both have good safety ratings. Federal inspectors have not audited either company in the last five years.
Most schools don't keep their own lists of a company's bus drivers.
Lewisville schools do, but as in most districts, administrators don't perform background checks themselves.
"That to me is a flaw in the whole system," Mr. Kennington said. "You don't know who you have out there as a driver. Is this a sex offender who's driving this bus? Hopefully, the company that you've hired has some scruples about them."
Lewisville administrators began requiring companies to provide them with a list of drivers who passed the background check after a series of problems in May.
On a seventh-grade trip to the state Capitol, a teacher and a driver were arguing over the volume of a movie being shown on the bus. The driver told her to stand up and raise the volume. As she did, the driver slammed on the brakes, causing her to fall down the stairs and hurt her face, leg and back, according to a complaint filed by the school.
"There were NO vehicles in front of or to the sides of our bus so the sudden stop did not seem necessary," read the complaint from a Lamar Middle School teacher.
Students also reported seeing the driver give the middle finger to another driver. Later, he repeatedly took his eyes off the road to watch the students' movie. When another teacher confronted him, he replied, "I only watch when there is no traffic," the complaint said.
The driver disputed the allegations, but the company, Gotta Go Express Trailways of Fort Worth, fired him. The company said he had passed its background check before he was hired. The school district says it was the only problem it's ever had with the company.
"Our assumption is that a criminal background check was done," said Rick Coulter, Lewisville purchasing director. "I don't have data that shows me that I can concretely say that, yes, a criminal background check was done."
Gotta Go – the most popular bus company used by local school districts – is now rated "satisfactory," according to federal regulators. Records show that it was given an "unsatisfactory" rating in 2002 after inspectors found that the company failed to conduct alcohol testing as frequently as required.
The owner, Donald Dinger, said that the company has improved and that its popularity with schools attests to its safety.
He added that he agreed with safety advocates that schools should be proactive and said he believes most companies would be open to inspections and background checks.
Mr. Ellis, of the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute, said Texas officials might consider a program like one in New York, which maintains a centralized roster of charter bus drivers who have passed a criminal background check to transport children. School officials there get the names of drivers and possible substitutes before field trips and call a hotline to verify that they've passed the check.
On day of trip
Even if schools could be assured that their drivers had clean backgrounds, it takes extra scrutiny the day of the trip to ensure that the bus that shows up is in good condition and the driver is ready to go, safety advocates say.
"The people who are taking the trip have no clue as to what to be looking for," said Bill Tousley, president-elect of the National Association of Pupil Transportation and a school transportation director in suburban Detroit. "It's just a matter of good faith that the company is going to provide what they're supposed to be providing."
On Plano's Jasper High School band trip to San Antonio in April, the tour company told the band director that the drivers would be returning late from a trip the night before and would need an extra hour to get the rest required by government regulations.
But the band still had problems.
"After we left the truck stop, the new driver on the 47-passenger bus began to have trouble staying awake," band director Jackie Digby wrote in a complaint. "Our parents on that bus gave him food and wet cloths to wipe his face. They also kept him engaged in conversation."
The driver told him, Mr. Digby wrote, that he didn't get home the night before until 1 a.m., just seven hours before he arrived for his morning trip from Plano to San Antonio. Bus drivers are required by federal law to get eight hours of rest after a full day of work.
In 2004, the Richardson district encountered problems even though it hired Coach USA – a nationwide company with a good safety record – for Mohawk Elementary School's annual trip to the state Capitol.
On the way back, the bus kept losing power. The driver called Coach USA's mechanics, who told him to wire a coat hanger from the alternator to bypass a faulty part of the electrical system, according to a complaint filed by John Kelly, Richardson's transportation director.
The bus made it home safely, but Mr. Kelly was alarmed.
"The use of a coat hanger, as uninstalled wiring, is unreliable at best and could have resulted in heat buildup leading to a fire," he wrote.
Mr. Kelly confirmed the details of the incident in an interview with The News, and he said he spoke to another Coach USA manager, who expressed concern about how the bus was fixed.
Gretchen Loyd, general manager for Coach USA, said Thursday that the incident was a misunderstanding, and a coat hanger was never used to repair the bus. She said she wasn't in charge in 2004 but had pulled the work order, which noted that the bus shut down because of a broken sensor that causes the bus to stop to avoid overheating.
Mr. Ellis said school officials could do many things to ensure safety on the day of the trip. He and Mr. Kennington of DPS suggest appointing a liaison with mechanical expertise to do a walk-around inspection of the bus.
That person should also talk to the driver and check his license and logbook to ensure he's properly trained and isn't tired, Mr. Ellis said.
If a district contracts with a company for trips throughout the year, the liaison should develop a close relationship with the company, periodically checking its facilities and talking to its mechanics, he said.
"The stakes are so high, and the margin of error when you're transporting children is so small," Mr. Ellis said.
Some D-FW districts try to be vigilant with extensive questionnaires tied to their charter bus contracts.
Six of the 26 districts reviewed by The News, including Arlington and Mesquite, use a questionnaire asking, for example: Have driving records been checked? Does the company have a drug and alcohol policy? Do you have a preventive maintenance program?
But the surveys are often limited to yes-no questions. Grapevine-Colleyville's charter bus contract goes further. It specifically states that the district may perform unannounced inspections of the company's buses and maintenance and training programs. It also allows the district's field trip coordinator to conduct road tests of the company's drivers and requires the company to provide drivers' logs and daily bus reports upon request.
The district can fine companies for not complying or for having an unsanitary bathroom. Broken air conditioning costs $150 a day, according to the contract.
Grapevine-Colleyville transportation director Steve Bond says his district includes those requirements to ensure that the bus company stays safe. He said he does a surprise inspection once a year.
"For our peace of mind as a district, we like to randomly go out and inspect the carrier to make sure they're up to date on DOT physicals, the random drug testing policies, proper licensing of their drivers and their equipment, make sure the repairs and preventative maintenance is acceptable for their equipment," he said.
Garland purchasing director Mark Booker credits his district's safety checking program for catching a potentially dangerous maintenance problem in November.
When seventh-grade Spanish students from the Austin Academy for Excellence were getting ready for a trip to San Antonio, one of the parents noticed that a tire was missing a chunk of rubber and that metal was showing.
The district called one of its mechanics out who said, "he thought the tire could disintegrate at any time," principal Ann Poore wrote.
The company said it missed the problem because of the way the tire was positioned during its morning check. It wasn't until well after the trip that the district administrators learned that their contractor, Eagle Tours of Irving, had subcontracted with another company, Gene's Charters of Burleson.
Garland's 66-question survey doesn't ask about subcontractors.
Mr. Booker said the district would hold the contractor accountable by refusing its business if it continually had a problem with subcontractors.
"If we were to have a list of those companies, it wouldn't be that advantageous," he said. "Once we enter into a contract with that company, that contractor is responsible."
Gene's Charters doesn't have a poor safety record, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's rating system. None of its nine buses or 19 drivers have had serious enough violations for an inspector to take them off the road.
But it has only had two roadside inspections in 21/2 years. Because of the lack of information, the department has flagged it for mandatory inspections.
About a third of the bus companies used by D-FW school districts have been marked for mandatory inspections because government regulators don't know enough about them.
Inadequate data is a persistent problem for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the arm of the Department of Transportation that regulates bus and truck companies. With 684,000 companies and 6.5 million commercial drivers in the U.S., the agency struggles to identify the dangerous ones.
Even though the company involved in the Hurricane Rita bus fire saw its driver safety rating fall to worse than 97 percent of all bus companies, the computerized system for prioritizing checks didn't flag the company for a full-scale safety audit, The News reported in October.
The United Motorcoach Association, which represents the busing industry, puts out its own guide for schools. It also recommends that districts review the safety record online, check subcontractors and ask about driver qualifications.
As long as school officials do their homework, students will be safe, association president Victor Parra said. The majority of bus companies are professional and put safety first.
"We know the risks of carrying people as opposed to rutabagas," he said. "That puts an enormous pressure on these guys. One slip-up, and your company's gone, your house is gone, your entire future is gone. We can't put safety at risk."