Flat Tires on Searcy School Buses

The first day of school wasn't a smooth one for every school district.  In Searcy, couldn't get rolling. Why? Every school bus had a flat tire. 

The first day of school is a big day that takes a lot of preparation. Classrooms are decorated; books are ready to read, and school buses are polished and ready to go.

That's normally the case for the Searcy School District. But this year, everything didn't play out as it should.

"We usually have a very quiet day, this one happened to be a little different," Searcy Superintendent Tony Wood said.  

That's because when the drivers of 30 school buses tried to hit the road, they couldn't.  Overnight, someone actually broke into the bus lot and let the air out of the tires on every Searcy school bus.

"It was a front tire on each bus that resulted in the tires being flat. It made the bus inoperable," Wood said.  

Bus mechanics were scrambling to fill all of the tires back up.

"It was a pretty big hassle on the first day of school," Mechanic Danny Markin said.  

Mechanic Danny Markin says it's something they never expected.

"We worked all summer to be ready for today. It let us down," Markin said.

But with the help of the community, the buses were up and running and delivered students to school, even though several of them were late.

"It was surprising. But we adjusted and reacted quickly. We had help from business people that do tire servicing that came to the bus compound and helped to re-air tires,” Wood said.  

Superintendent Tony Wood doesn't know if it was a prank, or maybe students trying to get out of their first day of school.  Regardless the intentions, the first day of school still went on in Searcy,

And now they plan to install cameras in the bus lot, to make sure the wheels on the bus go round and round for the rest of the school year.