School Bus Battery Thefts Under Investigation

All school buses were expected to be on time for the Tuesday afternoon pick-up, despite being up to an hour late in the morning after 11 batteries were stolen overnight.

Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District Transportation Director Bill Coyle said all buses will run on time for pick-up and drop-off after school.

Bridgewater Township Police are investigating the report of the batteries stolen from buses belonging to First Student, the bus company the district uses for transportation.

"We don't know how it happened," Bridgewater Township Police Lt. Al Nicaretta said Tuesday.

Some of the buses heading to the Bridgewater-Raritan High School and Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School were running 45 to 60 minutes late Tuesday morning because of batteries stolen overnight.

According to a district message from Superintendent Michael Schilder, 11 batteries were stolen overnight from First Student.

As a result, Schilder said, the district doubled up runs with the remaining buses for getting students to the schools in the morning. Several routes, he said, were running 45 to 60 minutes late because of the change.

The routes affected were MO7, M33 and M26 for the middle school, and R10 and R35 for the high school.

Patch will update as more information is available.