Senior Prank May Be Behind Bixby School Bus Vandalism

What may be a prank caused a big time bus dilemma Monday for students, teachers and parents at Bixby Public Schools. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.bixbyps.org/education/district/district.php?sectionid=1" target="_blank">Bixby Public Schools</a>

Monday, April 11th 2011, 8:24 am

By: News On 6


NewsOn6.com & Craig Day, News On 6

BIXBY, Oklahoma -- What may be a prank causes a big time bus dilemma for students, teachers and parents at Bixby Public Schools.

Vandals deflated dozens of tires on the district's fleet of school buses. It deflated the start of the school week and could add up to be expensive for the district.

"When parents then have to scramble in the morning to assist in getting their students to school, it is frustrating. It's frustrating to the transportation staff and to the site staff," Kaylin Coody, Bixby Associate Superintendent, said.

Vandals let the air out of 85 tires on 28 school buses. There wasn't any other damage other than they needed air, but it was enough to cripple the fleet and delay kids getting to school.

"It's very frustrating in that it is disruptive. Our goal is to educate students," Coody said.

The district notified parents at about 7 a.m. Monday, and by 9:30 a.m. busses began running routes. Some speculate it was a senior skip day prank.

"We don't know who is involved yet, so I really couldn't speak to that," Coody said.

Prank or not, in addition to parents scrambling, it left bus drivers sitting for three hours. Combine that with the hiring of outside contractors to help with repairs, and the price tag could end up being thousands of dollars.

"This is not an inexpensive endeavor, when you have this sort of thing going, so we will certainly look to press charges if possible," said Coody.

Police will review surveillance video to see if they can identify the vandals or their vehicles. School leaders will also reevaluate their security to see if they can prevent it from ever happening again.

"What may appear to not be that serious of an incident, certainly impacts us in a big way across the campus," she said.

Bixby school leaders say normally about 2,400 kids ride the bus each day.  On Monday, it was only about 75 students because most parents were able to make other arrangements.

Share your opinion about the incident on the forum on our sister site, 918moms.com.

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