Catalytic Converters Stolen From 5 Centennial Buses: Superintendent

WARMINSTER, PA —The Centennial School District has become the latest target of catalytic converter thieves.

Catalytic converters were stolen off five Centennial School District buses over the weekend, causing school officials to scramble to get students to and from school, Schools Superintendent Dana Bedden said.

Bedden called Patch Tuesday to say that he hopes to get the buses back on routes by the end of the week.

"This is a problem. It impacts service and it's a cost impact," said Bedden, who said he contacted the Warminster Township Police Department and also notified parents about the incident. "We crammed kids into buses and had to double our runs."

Police Chief James Donnelly did not return a call seeking comment.

There have been a string of catalytic converter thefts in the past month. Chief Donnelly said these thieves are becoming harder to catch because they're individuals conducting the crime instead of groups.

Four catalytic converter thefts took place over a two-week span last month, with the thefts ranging from $1,000 to $4,000, according to the most recent police blotter.

The police department, in most of its police blotter reports, asks residents to be vigilant regarding the converter crimes.

Karen Morgan, Centennial's supervisor of transportation, said she believes thieves cut a hole in the fence to get into the bus lot sometime between Saturday evening and Monday morning.

Bedden said the thefts are on school cameras that police are reviewing along with other security cameras.

He said the damaged school buses are sitting in the depot, creating a shortage of buses to transport students to and from school and to after-school activities.

"This creates additional challenges for any school district when we lose bus service for our students," the superintendent said. "Transportation is already a major challenge for school districts across the country with the driver shortages. It is shameful."

Bedden said sent a letter to parents, faculty and staff about the break-in:

As a result of the break-in, catalytic converters were stolen from five of our buses. The CSD transportation team had to quickly develop alternate plans to provide busing for the students assigned to affected routes. While the team succeeded in developing an alternate plan, we wanted to make you aware that we may experience some delays and/or require double routes until CSD can return these buses to service.

The superintendent asked everyone to be "extra vigilant for this type of activity."

Anyone seeing or hearing suspicious activity around any school district property should call 911 or 215-672-1000 (non-emergency dispatch) to have officers respond and check the area, the superintendent said.

"They're hurting children when they do this," the superintendent said. "For the past two years, we've been trying to get things back to normal. This doesn't help."