School buses vandalized, fleet grounded

The scene at the bus barn at 7:30 this morning as police investigate an

apparent case of vandalism to the district's entire fleet of school buses.

Officer Al Pierce with Facilities Manager Craig Conrad and an unidentified employee (L) from the bus barn look on as Officer Naomi Penrod surveys the damage inside one of the buses.

Someone set off the fire extinguisers inside all of the school buses late last night or early this morning, grounding the entire fleet, according to Board of Education Administrative Assistant Susan Griffith in an early morning phone call, informing me that I was going to have to drive my stepson to the Career Center.

"Fortunately, this is a waiver day," she said when asked about the impact on the district as a whole. "Well, I guess there's no 'fortunate' about it."

Since the rest of the school population had the day off anyway, only the kids who needed to be bussed to the Greene County Career Center and special education programs were affected.

Up at the high school parking lot, Police Officers Naomi Penrod and Al Pierce were investigating as two employees from the bus barn looked on. Inside one of the buses, a white powdery substance could be seen covering most of the surfaces. The assessment by school employees was that the mess could be cleaned up.