School Buses

Three Montgomery County school buses were involved in traffic accidents this morning, two of them with each other. No serious injuries were reported. About 8:45 a.m., two buses collided near Morning Star Drive and Ridge Road in the Germantown area, according to school and rescue officials. One child and three adults were taken to hospitals, mostly as a precaution, the officials said. About a half-hour later, a bus traveling north on Interstate 270 near Montrose Road apparently lost one of its tires, which ended up in the...

Student test scores are among the lowest in the Washington region. Many classrooms are overcrowded. School buses often arrive late or not at all. Superintendents and teachers often leave after spending just a couple of years in the district. These and other problems have plagued the Prince George's County schools for two decades, contributing to the instability of Maryland's second-largest school system. In large part, they are also what prompted County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D)

DETROIT — The federal government is examining 5,000 school buses from the 2008 model year that could stall without warning. No accidents or injuries have been reported, but in at least three cases, high-pressure oil lines that connect the oil pump to the fuel injectors apparently failed on International CE-brand buses. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted a notice about the investigation on its Web site Sunday. In one case reported to the agency, a bus full of students was traveling 55 mph when it started...

A man due in court next week for a probation hearing has been arrested on charges involving the firing of a pellet gun at two school buses, one carrying a student, in Southeast Washington. Neither the student nor the drivers and school staff members on board were injured when the buses were struck late Tuesday afternoon at Alabama Avenue and 18th Street SE. Several windows were damaged, police said. James Doby, 21, of Southeast Washington was charged with multiple counts of assault with a...

Do you ride a bus to get to school? What would you (and your folks) do if the school buses stopped? That's an issue that kids, parents and principals are thinking about in Washington state, where the governor has put "eliminating school bus service" on a list of possible ways to save money. Washington Governor Chris Greg-oire doesn't like the idea, but here's the problem: Right now her state is spending $2 billion more than it has each year. Eliminating buses to take kids to school would save $220 million.

As almost a half-million school buses this week began the annual ritual that will take them an estimated 4.2 billion miles by the time school lets out next spring, federal authorities have concluded that equipping them with seat belts is an unnecessary expense. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) rejected a petition by safety advocates who sought a federal mandate to require school bus seat belts. "We care deeply about schoolchildren and feel that the steps...

Nearly two dozen D.C. school buses will be getting equipment upgrades to reduce air pollution. A $224,540 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will fund a retrofit of 22 buses used to transport 4,000 special needs students. The four-year-old buses, the largest vehicles in the fleet, are scheduled to be fitted with filters to reduce the amount of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide released into the atmosphere. The use of Catalyzed Continuously Regenerating...

Seventh-grader Asiah Jett's school bus at Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie is so packed that the driver transports students in waves. On some days, Asiah gets home at 3:40 p.m. On others, 4:10. Trouble is, his mother never knows which days are which. "It's been a little stressful," said Asiah's mother, Jasmine Jett. "Things are getting better, but the bus this year has definitely been frustrating. " A pileup of struggles has led to erratic bus service for some Prince George's County ...

A man armed with a pellet gun shot out some windows of two school buses in Southeast Washington late Tuesday afternoon, according to D.C. police. Authorities said some students were on at least one of the buses, but no injuries were reported. Police said they arrested a suspect, 21-year-old James Doby of Southeast, and charged him with multiple counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. Doby could have a hearing in D.C. Superior Court later Wednesday. The shooting...

School buses are poised to become the latest front in the widening use of traffic enforcement cameras in Montgomery County, as officials look to crack down on motorists who fail to yield to students being picked up or dropped off. County Council President Valerie Ervin (D-Silver Spring) introduced legislation Tuesday that would allow police to use external cameras on many of the 1,264 county school buses to ticket offending drivers. A majority of council members...

Prince George's County public school officials are reassessing security procedures and have recommended several short-term measures, including systemwide lockdown drills, following last month's shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school that left 20 children dead. "The shooting at Sandy Hook [school] shook the consciousness of the nation, and, as a result, we looked at some of the things we were doing," Michael Blow, the director of security services for the school system, told members of the...

It's not unusual for Claire Mudd, a freshman at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, to arrive 20 minutes late to her foundations of technology class. At least once, Mudd showed up even later, halfway into second period. The tardiness isn't Claire's fault. Her Prince George's County school bus is chronically late, arriving long after the first bell rings, and part of a district-wide problem that dates to last year. Schools buses in the county that continue to arrive late have not only...

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a 17-year lawsuit over the transportation of D.C. special education students, giving the city final approval to control its own school buses and marking a milestone for the D.C. government and Mayor Vincent C. Gray. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman called it a "historic" day in the class-action suit, which is known as Petties v. District of Columbia . Friedman, who has served as presiding judge in the case since it was filed in 1995, signed an order ...

Montgomery County's schools chief said Tuesday that he will form a work group to study later start times at public high schools, a move that comes two months after county parents launched a petition calling for opening bells at 8:15 a.m. or later. Superintendent Joshua P. Starr made the unexpected announcement at a county Board of Education meeting after parents delivered two thick binders containing 950 pages and more than 10,000 signatures supporting later high school start times.

District special-education advocates say that an incident this week in which a child was forgotten for hours in the back of a school bus highlights the broader challenge city officials face as they assume control of buses after years of federal court supervision. Two employees of the city's Office of the State Superintendent of Education, which oversees special-education transportation, were fired after leaving a special-needs preschooler alone for nearly seven hours Tuesday. ...

A federal judge has agreed to let the District regain control of its special education school buses after 17 years of federal supervision, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) said Thursday. In 1995, parents filed a class-action suit alleging that the city had failed to provide reliable transportation for students with disabilities. The suit led to federal oversight of the system. The city has demonstrated that it can reliably serve its 3,100 special education students, said to David Gilmore, the...

A federal judge has agreed to let the District regain control of its special education school buses after 17 years of federal supervision, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) said Thursday. In 1995, parents filed a class-action suit alleging that the city had failed to provide reliable transportation for students with disabilities. The suit led to federal oversight of the system. The city has demonstrated that it can reliably serve its 3,100 special education students, said to David Gilmore, the supervising court...

The sky is pitch-black at a school-bus stop in Olney, and it might as well be midnight for 15-year-old Joe Palmer. His eyes are open, but his brain feels stalled. He wishes he were still in bed. It is 6:30 a.m., with sunrise still an hour away. "I'm pretty much a zombie," he says as his bus pulls up. He drags himself aboard, bound for Sherwood High School. The teen's lament is familiar across Montgomery County, where the opening bell of high school rings at 7:25. But such pre-dawn travails have taken on more...