BELLE — The Maries County R-2 Board of Education addressed questions about recent Missouri State Highway Patrol school bus inspections during its June 30 meeting, explaining that only one bus was temporarily removed from service and that it returned to operation within a week after repairs were completed.

The discussion began after a board member referenced a recent article in The Advocate about the annual inspections and asked for clarification on the inspection results.

“I had a question because there was an article in the newspaper that indicated that there were a couple buses taken out of service,” the board member said. “That was kind of news to me, and I feel like it might have been a little misleading. Could you...?”

Superintendent Dr. Lenice Basham explained that one bus was temporarily removed from service after an inspector observed what appeared to be a problem with a brake component.

“We did have one that was taken when the Highway Patrol came,” Basham said. “There was one that was taken out of service. It had a flake of rust between the caliper and the brake pad, and the Highway Patrol thought the brake pad backing might be coming apart.”

Basham said the district immediately ordered a replacement part, but technicians later determined the brake pad itself was not defective.

“We ordered the new part. It was not the brake pad, it was a bit of rust. They put it back in service, and so within a week that bus was back in service.”

She said inspectors also identified two additional maintenance items during the inspection, but neither required a bus to be removed from service.

“There was a small brake light on Bus No. 1 that wasn’t working, and then the passenger-side mirror on Bus No. 20 was a little loose,” Basham said. “Both of those things were corrected during the Highway Patrol inspection.”

Basham said that the district did not have any major safety deficiencies during the inspection.

“There wasn’t anything that was major. There was nothing that was dangerous, and everything was ... fixed very rapidly,” she said.

During the discussion, another board member noted that issues such as surface rust are sometimes unavoidable with vehicles that operate year-round and asked whether there was anything the district could have done to prevent the issue.

“No, there is not anything,” Basham replied.

The board took no action on the matter, and the discussion concluded after district officials answered questions regarding the inspection findings.