Blythe Bernhard
ST. LOUIS -- Students continued to ride in unauthorized buses Monday even after St. Louis Public Schools canceled eight routes from a company that violated safety laws.
Eight bus routes were temporarily suspended after the Post-Dispatch reported last week that buses operated by Reed 2 Reed of Florissant did not have the required signs and in several cases, were missing license plates. None of the Reed 2 Reed buses have been inspected by the Missouri Highway Patrol, which regulates school buses.
An alert on the SLPS website states the suspended routes are 5001 to 5008, which staff members said were covered by Reed 2 Reed.
On Monday, two unmarked buses dropped students off at Shaw Visual and Performing Arts Elementary in the Hill neighborhood. To pass inspection, privately-owned school buses must display the name and address of the owner on each side in large black letters. The buses also lacked the required sign on the back saying, "STATE LAW: STOP WHILE BUS IS LOADING AND UNLOADING."
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"The school district is responsible for ensuring buses operated by or on their behalf meet the criteria for safe and legal operation as established in the Missouri Minimum Standards for School Buses," said Lt. Eric Brown, assistant director of the public information and education at the state highway patrol.
A nationwide driver shortage has caused SLPS to struggle with bus coverage for years, but the situation escalated last spring when primary vendor Missouri Central backed out of its contract with the district.
The district's emergency transportation plan included primary bus company First Student and more than a dozen smaller vendors. Toyin Akinola, director of transportation at SLPS, retired this month.
Reed 2 Reed LLC was registered as a home health care company in 2016 by Kimberly Marie Reed of Florissant, according to the secretary of state's website. The company does not have the required $1.5 million bodily injury and property damage insurance filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Reed 2 Reed was paid $560,742 by SLPS in the 2023-2024 school year, according to the district's check registers. The highway patrol has no record of inspecting any Reed 2 Reed buses operating in spring 2024, Brown said.
From July through September, SLPS paid Reed 2 Reed $121,550.
This story will be updated.
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