Bus vandalism cancels Windham classes

WINDHAM, Conn. (WTNH) -- Public schools in Windham are closed today due to vandalism to school buses.

Assistant Super. Pamela Barker-Jones says the vandalism was discovered Wednesday morning at the M&J Bus Co . on Tuckee Rd.
    
"One of the dispatchers came in early this morning and went to fuel a bus, and noticed the cap was missing, and there was dirt all over the outside of the tank," said Maintenance Director George Whitney. "He proceeded to walk around the rest of the buses and find that the caps were all missing."

Scratch marks seem to indicate where somebody grabbed up sand and gravel and put it in to the fuel tanks. As many as 30 of the company's 47 buses were affected and as of late morning only two fuel caps had been retrieved.

"We've got people running around, trying to find fuel caps because it's not like you can just run down to your local store and get a fuel cap for a school bus," Whitney said. "So we're doing what we can to run around the state and get fuel caps."

To go with the tedious task of cleaning the fuel and tanks is an estimated two hours' worth of work per bus.

There's still a chance the vandals can be identified.

"We have surveillance cameras," Whitney said. "We have somebody going back through them right now, to see if there's anything on there."

And with optimism that, like the sun, the buses will come out tomorrow.

"Definitely, definitely," he said.

"Well, if he tells me he's going to get it done, he's going to get it done," said Windham Schools Superintendent Ana Ortiz.

The unexpected closure means the last day of classes for some 3800 kids grades pre-K through 12 will be June 14. The last day for staff will be the June 15, which is a professional development day.

M&J bus has operations in eight locations in Connecticut.