Transportation for the Oxford school district was paralyzed Monday after frozen fuel lines knocked 20 of the 23 buses that serve schools out of commission.
The buses managed to deliver most students to the high school before breaking down, officials said. A small number of high school students were temporarily stranded on buses until other buses could pick them up.
The buses started to break down starting at about 7:20 a.m., district officials said.
Emergency ‘robo calls’ went out to parents about 8 a.m., telling them classes were canceled at Quaker Farms, Center School, and Great Oak Middle School. About 100 of the students at Great Oak Middle School were already at the school when the problems started.
Diesel fuel, when not treated for cold temperatures, has the potential to turn to sludge when temperatures drop.
However, Al Colangelo, the district manager for All-Star Transportation, said his crews took precautions — but the temperatures victimized the buses nonetheless.
“We’ve had winterization procedures, including fuel additives and earlier (engine) starts, but it’s just the cold,” Colangelo said.
Colangelo said mechanics cleaned the fuel filters and serviced the buses to prevent the same thing from happening Tuesday.
“I think we’ll be in good shape,” he said.
What action — if any — the district will take against the transportation company wasn’t clear Monday.
Interim schools Superintendent James Connelly sent home a letter Monday to parents. A copy of it is posted below. Article continues after the letter.
Oxford Letter To Parents, January 24, 2011
Sgt. Dan Semosky, the Oxford resident state trooper, said it was a wise decision for the Board of Education to cancel school, rather than have children wait in the freezing temperatures at bus stops.
The bus problems caused the sixth makeup day to be tacked onto the June calendar for Oxford elementary and middle school students. If there are any other snow days, they will be taken out of the April vacation period, Connelly said.
