ST. LOUIS — The annual school bus inspection results are in from the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the grades are favorable for most St. Louis area districts.
Each year MSHP is tasked with inspecting every school bus in the state. The buses are placed into three categories: approved, defective and out of service.
bus that gets approved is one that passes with no issues.
MSHP said a bus that falls into the defective category means there's an issue, but it doesn't pose an immediate danger. Students can still ride on that bus as long as the issue is fixed within 10 days of the initial inspection. The bus will need to be re-inspected once the defect is fixed.
According to the highway patrol, a bus is taken out of service when there's an issue that "constitutes an immediate danger." The bus can't return to service until the problem is fixed and re-inspected by MSHP.
The report released Tuesday gives an approval rating for nearly 100 public and private schools in MSHP's Troop C, which is the St. Louis region.
There are 11 districts in Troop C that have a fleet of at least 100 buses. All the large schools earned an approval rating of 90% or above. Eight of the schools had zero buses taken out of service: Fox C-6, Francis Howell, Ft. Zumwalt, Hazelwood, Mehlville, Parkway, Rockwood, Saint Louis Public Schools, St. Louis County Special School District, Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation (VICC) and Wentzville.
Three districts in Troop C with at least 10 buses in its fleet failed to earn at least an 80% approval rating: Bowling Green, Lonedell and Ritenour. The majority of the issues fell under the "defective" category, which could mean only a minor repair is needed.
5 On Your Side has been following the annual bus inspection results for years. In the past, the results have prompted districts to take action to improve its fleet. After receiving an approval rating of 21% in 2014, Rockwood made significant improvements and decided to buy and maintain its own fleet instead of contracting its bus service with First Student. Rockwood has received high marks for the past several years including a 98% approval rating this year.
Check the full list of inspection results to see how your school district's buses were graded on the Missouri State Highway Patrol's website here.