Bus tires are deflated, but school goes on

A mechanic arriving at the East Valley School District bus barn near Otis Orchards Elementary about 5:30 a.m. Monday noticed something a little different about the buses.

Someone had entered the fenced area and let the air out of the front tires of every single bus – except one. “I’m sure with all the hissing of air, they didn’t know they had missed one,” said Judy Christianson, the district’s community information specialist.

A local tire shop sent four trucks to get the 40 buses back on the road, Christianson said. All the valves had to be resealed before the tires could be inflated.

Schools opened at the usual time, but all the buses were two hours behind schedule. It may be that the person who tampered with the buses was hoping they would be out of commission a bit longer.

Someone used shaving cream to write “No school today, please,” on the sidewalk, said Undersheriff Dave Wiyrick of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

“They misspelled school,” Wiyrick said. “They need to go back to Spelling 101.”

The incident is under investigation. The person who scaled the 8-foot fence topped with barbed wire could be charged with burglary, Wiyrick said.