Bobby Jackson, Transportation Specialist for Madison City Schools, said his mechanics inspect each of the system’s 80 buses frequently and report any concerns immediately. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – The Alabama State Department of Education has recognized Madison City Schools for outstanding safety of buses.

The state department presents the award to school systems that achieve a level of less than 10 percent occurrence of major deficiencies. The Madison fleet was flagged with only one deficiency in a bus in the state department’s 2014 inspections report.

“These certificates are awarded annually to school systems with exemplary school bus inspections and to recognize the excellent local school system employees who work so diligently to achieve this level of performance,” Joe Lightsey said. Lightsey works as pupil transportation director for the state department.

Madison City Schools transports about 5,000 students daily over 63 routes for a total of 718,546 miles annually. Bobby Jackson, the district’s transportation specialist, said his mechanics inspect each of the system’s 80 buses frequently and report any concerns immediately.

“Our biggest thing is safety of the kids,” Jackson said. “That’s why the mechanics really concentrate what they are doing with inspections every month to make sure the buses run properly and there’s no chance of anything happening. We go the extra mile.”

Madison Board of Education members and Superintendent Dr. Dee Fowler congratulated Jackson on behalf of his department’s employees at the board meeting on Feb. 3. Fowler noted that the diligence of drivers and mechanics has avoided any difficulties in starting buses during extremely cold temperatures.

The transportation office’s address is 217 Westchester Road. Office hours are 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 256-774-4613 or visit madisoncity.k12.al.us and click “Transportation” in the list at the left.