Local school buses are safe

Transportation officials say their buses have been checked for defective brakes.

“Local school district transportation officials say their school buses have been checked for possible brake problems and are ready to bring students back to school this week. The announcement became necessary after one of the nation’s leading school bus manufacturers said Sunday that potentially 40,000 newer model school buses nationwide could have defective anti-lock brake systems. might cause the drivers to temporarily lose braking ability for up to three seconds at slow speeds.Eldred Nenhuis, senior mechanic for the Oak Harbor School District, said none of the district’s fleet of busses have the Bendix brake system in question.Helen St. Amand, transportation supervisor for the Coupeville School District said one bus in her fleet does have the Bendix brakes but it has been checked thoroughly according to the manufacturer’s instructions for any loose or chaffed wiring. It has no problems, she said Tuesday. St. Amand said the bus will be monitored and if an official recall goes out the bus will be pulled from service until it’s repaired. She praised the state school superintendent’s office and local Educational Service Districts for getting the information out quickly so that buses could be checked.So far, no accidents have been directly linked to the defective brake systems. “