BISD Releases Bus Inspection Report After Fires, Withdraws Request for Attorney General Opinion

Photo by Miguel Roberts, Brownsville Herald

From the editor: We submitted a Public Information Request to BISD's Public Information Officer, Drue Brown on May 28, 2014, asking for a copy of the inspection report concerning two BISD buses that caught fire, one October 4, 2013, the other, a week later, October 11, 2013. 

Drue Brown,
BISD Public Information Officer

The tenth business day following our request, we received a certified letter from Miguel Salinas, Staff Attorney for Brownsville ISD, indicating our request had been denied, sent instead to the Texas Attorney General's office for review.  Enclosed was Salinas' letter to the Attorney General on BISD's behalf using as a principal argument against releasing the information what Salinas framed as "contemplated litigation."

In an attempt to be pro-active, not simply waiting for an Attorney General opinion, we sent this note to Attorney General Abbott:

Honorable Greg Abbott
Office of the Texas Attorney General
300 W. 15th Street
Austin, TX 78701


Dear General Abbott:


My Public Information Request to the Brownsville Independent School District No. 7630 has been forwarded to your office for a ruling.

My request was to receive copies of two reports regarding the cause or causes of two BISD school bus fires within a single week in October 2013 involving 30 and 29 students respectively. One report was prepared by an independent team hired by theInternational Corporation, Navistar, the manufacturer of the buses involved. The other report was prepared by an independent inspector or inspection team hired by BISD.

Ten business days after my request I received a letter from BISD Staff Attorney Miguel Salinas informing me of that an Attorney General opinion was being sought. Fifteen business days after my request I received a letter citing the Litigation Exception from the Texas Government Code as a suggested basis for not granting my request.

In the DISCUSSION section of the second letter dated June 18, 2014, Staff Attorney Salinas mentions the two October fires and yet another fire, April 10, 2013. Then Salinas states: "First, Litigation had been contemplated since the November 2014 draft report(I assume he meant November 2013) was received and long before the subject request of May 29, 2014. Secondly the information at issue is intricately and specifically linked to the contemplated litigation."

With all due respect, "contemplated litigation" could be used to deny every single Public Information Request. Obviously, no litigation has actually been initiated, not with regard to the two October 2013 school bus fires, not the earlier April 2013 fire. BISD has released no information reassuring parents or taxpayers that correction action has been taken to prevent recurrence.

BISD Attorney Miguel Salinas

Respectfully,

Jim Barton

Today, July 15, 2014, we received a certified letter from BISD Attorney Miguel Salinas indicating the district had withdrawn their challenge to our Public Information request:

Unfortunately, we did NOT receive a copy of the letter of withdrawal for a Texas Attorney General opinion.  We will submit a request for that.

We did receive a 4 page written report on the cause or causes of the bus fires prepared for BISD by Dynamic Technical Consultants, Inc. of Raleigh, NC.  15 full page photos of the three buses, the engine compartments, etc., accompanied the 4 page written report.

We still have several very specific questions with regard to the maintenance records of these three buses.  These will be submitted.

Since the Brownsville Fire Department dealt with all three fires, we will be asking for a Fire Marshall's Report as to the cause or causes.  That will raise another safety issue.  Brownsville has not had a Fire Marshall since the retirement of Ben Nunez, Jr.   

Understanding the cause of fires is just as much a safety issue as fighting fires.  Mayor Tony Martinez and Fire Chief Lenny Perez have been laggard and irresponsible on this issue.  

More to come once the report has been fully digested.