MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. – It was an unexpected day off from school Friday for thousands of students in Warren.
Thieves made off with almost an entire fleet of school bus batteries. It happened sometime over night at the Van Dyke School District bus barn on Nine Mile near Hoover.
School officials say thieves cut through a fence to gain access to the vehicles.
"Whoever did this took three batteries out of each bus and so we literally had to shut down the system because we can't move our kids with 15 buses down," said superintendent Joe Pius.
And whoever is behind this took their time. They unscrewed 45 batteries in all, in the dark.
"They actually did us a favor, they didn't cut the cables," says Pius.
Police are now on the case.
Authorities spent the morning looking for fingerprints and other clues. The district alert parents that classes for the day were canceled.
Only a few parents say they didn't get the message. "I talk to my daughter on the phone while she walks to school, so I know she made it to school safely that's how I knew she wasn't getting in, she said mom there is a sign on the door that says there's no school," says Stacy Johnson, who has a daughter in the sixth grade.
The district wasted no time getting things back in order. They already started replacing the stolen batteries.