Buses ready to roll

Karl Jeter
karl.jeter@techetoday.com

Breaux Bridge – Classes begin for public schol students tomorrow (Aug. 11), but bus drivers and central office staff spent a good part of last Thursday making sure parish buses were ready to roll.
On Aug. 4, in preparation for that first day, 110 parish school buses were inspected. The all-day process is needed to insure that safety equipment is in good order. There are 87 buses in operation on any given day, the rest are in reserve if needed. But all need inspecting.
Operations Supervisor Henry Derouselle is in charge of the bus inspections. He told the Teche News that buses were checked for mechanical readiness at the maintenance shop, then were taken to Breaux Bridge High School for the safety check.
One by one, a four-man team gave the buses a thorough going over. The list of items inspected included electronic systems, lights, stop signs, back-up horns, walk-around bars, inside cameras and fire extinguishers.
Drivers were also issued their work phones for the year. The phones replace the radios prevously used and are for school use only. Rules require drivers to pull off the road to use them.
Derouselle is a 17-year veteran of the St. Martin Parish school system. He has served as principal at Breaux Bridge Jr. High, Parks Middle School and JCEP. This is his seventh year as operations manager at BBHS.