CHARLOTTE, NC – Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools attribute an increase in school bus maintenance problems to an ongoing mechanic shortage.
Public records show that North Carolina Department of Public Instruction inspectors pulled 29 buses out of service during CMS’ last annual inspection in late 2022, the equivalent of about 27 percent of all buses inspected.
“It’s a good lesson for us,” said Adam Johnson, CMS’ executive director of transportation. “It’s a check for us to see how we can be more responsible.”
Among the most serious defects noted by inspectors were a lack of engine oil and transmission fuel, failed brake system tests and damaged tires.
Click here to sign up for Wake Up Charlotte’s daily newsletter
Click here to view the full bus inspection report for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
WCNC Charlotte’s review of inspections revealed that the school system performed worse than its larger counterpart in Wake County and nearly every other district in the Charlotte area. Not only that, but CMS received a lower grade than it did the previous year
“We take it very seriously,” Johnson said. “We will make the necessary improvements and ensure that your children ride on a safe bus every day.”
Credit: WCNC Charlotte
Adam Johnson, CMS’ executive director of transportation, says the district is dealing with a shortage of mechanics.
CMS reports that 90 percent of defects found by inspectors were repaired that same day, but as a result of the inspection, Johnson said CMS better trained its mechanics, assigned a quality assurance manager to perform inspections timely and asked supervisors to provide additional supervision.
“For a lot of it, it’s retraining the technicians,” he said. “Part of the process will be for the maintenance supervisor who supervises the technician to say, ‘Come back and show me how you’re doing your monthly inspection. Let me make sure you don’t miss these key elements found in the report’”.
Johnson said maintenance failures have increased as the number of mechanics working for the school system has decreased. He said CMS really should have 47 mechanics available to regularly inspect the district’s school buses, but right now it has 17 vacancies, leaving just 30 employees responsible for more maintenance work.
“I don’t know if they’re missing things as much as they’re trying to get through everything as quickly as possible,” Johnson said of the remaining mechanics. “The workload they have, I think there are things they could do better.”
Credit: WCNC Charlotte
He said the mechanics who have left have done so because of low pay. CMS raised pay and added a signing bonus in the last year in hopes of recruiting mechanics. Johnson said the average wage is more than $30 an hour plus possible overtime.
While Union County Public Schools is nearly fully staffed now, the neighboring district reports that it has also experienced a “few” vacancies in the mechanical department, which has “affected the transportation maintenance team.” DPI’s most recent inspection in May 2022 resulted in 25% of Union County buses being pulled from the road for safety defects, including brake problems and low tire pressure.
The Wake County Public School System reports a 31 percent mechanic vacancy rate and admits it has made it “harder to keep all the buses roadworthy.” That said, inspectors pulled just 14 percent of the buses they inspected off the road in North Carolina’s largest school system, records show.
In the Charlotte area, inspectors pulled the highest percentage of out-of-service buses in the Rowan-Salisbury school system, records show. During the most recent inspection there in April 2022, inspectors took seven of 18 buses off the road for defects, which included problems with brakes, stop lights and an unloaded fire extinguisher, according to a state defect report. The district expects another inspection soon, but it improved its overall score year over year.
Click here to read the full Rowan-Salisbury Schools inspection report.
During the Iredell-Statesville School District’s most recent inspection at the end of 2022, inspectors took 24 percent of the buses inspected out of service. They found an inoperative horn on one of those buses, records show. The school system received a worse score in 2022 compared to its previous inspection.
Click here to read the full inspection report for Iredell-Statesville Schools.
Inspectors pulled 17 percent of the buses inspected off the road in Cabarrus County Schools and Catawba County Schools during those districts’ most recent inspections, while they pulled 10 percent of the buses inspected in the county of Gaston and chief of Lincoln and Stanly counties.
Click here for complete bus inspection reports from districts in Cabarrus, Catawba, Gaston, Lincoln and Stanly counties.
Back at CMS, Johnson said, thankfully the district hasn’t experienced any major problems with buses with kids on board this school year, but all you have to do is watch Timoni Rushing’s video to be reminded how quickly with which things can change. A bus fire, which escalated in a matter of seconds, remains etched in his memory.
Credit: WCNC Charlotte
Timoni Rushing’s video shows how quickly a school bus fire can escalate. The incident happened in 2017, when Rushing was at South Meck High.
“The smoke took a second and then the smoke turned into a fire, and then you know all the windows, one by one, went on fire,” Rushing recalled of the school bus fire in in October 2017. “We were all happy to get down safely. Seconds later, it was over.”
Then a sophomore at South Mecklenburg High School, Rushing vividly remembers rushing out in front of her school bus moments before it caught fire. CMS was unable to determine what caused the 2017 fire, but required its staff to be more vigilant moving forward.
Credit: Timoni Rushing
Johnson was not the director at the time. In the years since he returned to CMS as executive director in 2018, he said CMS has dramatically improved its overall inspection scores.
Today, he not only takes charge, he also runs a bus route every day.
“When I was 7, my mom became a school bus driver. I went with her when she was practicing to get her license and from then on, I guess I caught the bug,” she said. “I started driving a bus when I was 19. I moved on to college and here I am 27 years later, still behind the wheel.”
Credit: WCNC Charlotte
Johnson is well aware of the trust parents place in his hands.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” he said. “It’s a lot of stress, but we take it very seriously and want to do the best we can.”
Contact Nate Morabito at nmorabito@wcnc.com and follow him Facebook, Twitter i Instagram.
