The first day of school for elementary school students in Rio Rancho was ruined, thanks to a few vandals putting buses temporarily out of commission.
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The offenders broke into the district bus contractor’s bus yard on Idalia Road and punctured the tires on 14 school buses, including two handicapped buses.
“It’s terribly frustrating,” RRPS spokesperson Kim Vesely said. “It creates a real hardship for families. They had to rearrange their schedules. I certainly hope we find out who did it and make sure they are prosecuted.”
John Francis, Rio Rancho Police spokesman, said the police are following leads in the department’s investigation.
Sandoval County Emergency dispatchers received a call regarding the vandalism at 5:40 a.m. from a Durham School Services employee.
Jeff Bronstein, the district’s transportation director, received a call shortly after. Because he did not know how many buses were affected, Bronstein immediately called RRPS Superintendent Sue Cleveland and jointly they decided to delay the start of school by two hours.
“It’s the first day of school for elementary students and it should have been a magical day,” Bronstein said. “I would have really felt terrible about canceling the whole day, so I’m glad we were able to have the two-hour delay rather than cancel school. I’m more upset for the kids because they are so excited. I have a second-grader and he was real excited about the first day of school. These are events you deal with and just move on.”
Bronstein said many parents were understanding of the situation.
“I talked to many, many parents and they were very supportive and know that we are doing everything to ensure things go smoothly,” Bronstein said.
The school day, however, for students at Shining Star Pre-school was cancelled.
Vesely explained that the students are on a half-day schedule and that by the time the children arrived at school, there would have been little time for instruction.
Regarding the vandalism incident, Bronstein said Durham told him that a few people climbed over the fence, which has barbed wire on top of it, and began slashing tires with a small knife. He said that a Durham employee arrived to open the lot and caught the offenders by surprise, but was unable to identify the offenders because of the darkness.
To replace the damaged buses, Durham decided to roll out replacements. Several bus drivers drove around the city stopping at the various bus stops to tell children that school had been delayed for two hours.
Around 6 a.m., Bronstein said the school’s messenger system sent telephone messages to parents informing them of the delay. Local television and radio stations also were apprised of the situation. School employees also were at the buildings to inform parents and students that the first bell would ring two hours later than normal.
Since Durham is the contractor, the company is responsible for the damage and filing insurance claims, not the school district.
RRPS has no control over Durham’s security measures, but Bronstein said the district has expectations.
“I have requested they do a full security assessment,” Bronstein said.
Durham refused to return phone calls.
This isn’t the first vandalism incident for Durham. In April, someone let the air out of 129 tires on 73 buses. Last week, someone cut seats on two buses.
Comments
2 comment(s)tumbleweed wrote on Aug 24, 2008 8:47 AM:
Concerned Parent wrote on Aug 21, 2008 3:16 PM: