OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Busing was unavailable for students in the Oshkosh Area School District Thursday after catalytic converters were stolen from buses Wednesday.
But the system should be be back up today (Friday) because of replacement coaches taken from districts that won’t have classes.
In a letter sent to parents, the district says Kobussen had all of the catalytic converters stolen from their entire fleet of buses in Oshkosh.
Jessica Kortbein says her son takes one of those buses to school every morning.
“Busing is the number one means of transportation for these kids, especially in my area.”
Kortbein says she has the ability to bring her son to school, but not all parents are lucky.
“It’s not just stealing a catalytic converter, it’s creating problems for parents getting to work on time and risk losing their jobs.”
Classes were still in session Thursday. Students just had to find a different way to get to school and home.
“I did help about three people get their kids to school this morning,” said Kortbein.
However, co-curricular and field trip busing will occur Thursday. The district says this is only possible because Kobussen is able to bring the small number of buses needed for a short time from other terminals to temporarily meet those needs.
Busing to and from school will resume as normal Friday as Kobussen was able to shift its buses that service other school districts which do not have class. Busing is expected to continue as normal next week.
Kobussen’s catalytic converter thefts first caused a delay for the district’s busing on Wednesday. While Kobussen made every effort to resume regular busing for the district Thursday, additional catalytic converter thefts made that impossible.
Captain Greg Cianciolo, with Winnebago County Sherriff’s Department, says catalytic converters thefts on larger vehicles have been on the rise.
“They have larger catalytic converters that contain more of the precious metals, so therefore, they have more value.”
He tells FOX 11 most of the people who steal converters sell the parts on the black market.
“Over the last couple years, there’s been some legislation passed that requires certain information to be collected by the junkyards and the auto industry to try and curb what’s happening.”
Kortbein says she hopes the thief gets caught.
“This is heartbreaking that somebody would do this to the kids.”
Police say they’ve collected a lot of evidence and developed some leads on who could be responsible for the thefts — but the investigation remains ongoing.
The district says it will provide updates to parents as quickly as possible.
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