A Fayette County school bus driver is under investigation after reportedly leaving a group of young children unattended inside a restaurant while he ordered breakfast and used the restroom during his morning route, reported Fox 13.
The incident reportedly happened on Aug. 7 when the driver pulled up with five elementary-aged students estimated to be between 5 and 7 years old and brought them into the restaurant. Cyndi Oliver, owner of Sweet Creations & Our Daily Bread in La Grange, Tennessee, said the school bus driver told her he couldn’t leave the children alone on the bus, so he escorted them inside before heading to the restroom.
“He came back in and said, ‘You know, I really can’t leave the kids on the bus,’” Oliver recalled. “Then he went to the restroom and left the children here.”
Oliver said the students were left sitting at a table, unsupervised, for about 10 minutes while the driver was in the restroom. After receiving his order, the driver reportedly returned to the bus, parked across the street and ate his meal before continuing his route.
According to the news report, Oliver was concerned about what she saw and contacted the Fayette County School Board immediately but said she didn’t receive a response for several hours. She later posted about the incident in a local community Facebook group, urging parents of children who ride bus No. 73 to reach out.
“Ten minutes is a long time,” she said via the report. “If I hadn’t been that person, I could have asked any one of those children to come with me … and they would have gone.”
In response, Fayette County Public Schools issued a statement via the article acknowledging the incident and confirming that the situation is under review.
“Student safety is our top priority, and we take this matter very seriously,” the statement reads. “The situation is currently under investigation in accordance with district policy and procedures. Because this is a personnel matter, we are unable to provide further details at this time.”
Oliver said she was later contacted by a school district official who assured her that steps would be taken to prevent similar incidents in the future. However, the district has not provided details regarding those specific measures when contacted by local news reporters.
As of this report, the bus driver’s status with the district remains unclear pending the outcome of the investigation.
RENO, Nev. — STN EXPO West kicked off with school transportation experts Richard Fischer and Peter Baxter, who presented the “School Bus Accident Investigation: Be Prepared for a Lawsuit” session.
“You need to know more than you need to know,” said Peter Baxter Friday as the four-hour-long accident investigation session began. With the play on the famous Oscar Wilde quote, Baxter aimed to emphasize the need for transportation professionals to acquire more knowledge than they believe they will need to know in the industry.
Attendees at the session were taught about the importance of safety and preparedness within the student transportation sector, particularly as it pertains to handling incidents involving school buses. Both Fischer and Baxter said their goal was to equip attendees with essential skills in mitigating risks associated with school transportation.
Dick Fischer is widely recognized as the Father of School Bus Safety Week for successfully petitioning President Richard Nixon in 1972 for the first federal proclamation. He and Pete Baxter, a retired state director of student transportation for the Indiana Department of Education are both members of the National Association for Pupil Transportation Hall of Fame. Baxter is one of only two people to serve as president of both NAPT and the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services.
Fischer, who was recognized at the 2024 STN EXPO West with a lifetime achievement award, noted that the main priority of transportation professionals should be the students they transport. He emphasized the acronym “GOAL,” short for get out and look, when addressing how drivers should not be reluctant to exit the bus when they can’t see if a student crossed or to do a maintenance check on the bus if needed during a route.
Fischer explained that many student transportation professionals believe that it is illegal for school bus drivers to exit the vehicle while on route. However, that is not the case. Currently, California is the only state where drivers must get off the bus to cross the road with elementary students when the bus is stopped on the opposite side of where the student’s home is located. This law was established in 1932, and since then reportedly no student or driver has been killed by an illegal passing incident.
During the seminar, Fischer transitioned into the topic of the danger zone, which refers to the 10- to 12-feet hazardous area surrounding school buses where students are at the most risk during loading and unloading. He highlighted the importance of being able to look over the hood of the bus when driving.
A scenario was acted out, where two attendees with different heights represented the difference between a shorter and taller school bus driver and how their respective danger zones are different. Fischer explained the importance of setting the driver’s seat at its lowest point to get an accurate description of the true danger zone for each driver. The ability to maintain awareness of one’s surroundings is pivotal in preventing incidents and ensuring student safety.
When the question, “What do you think the toughest task is in preventing a collision?” was asked by the speakers, many attendees were quick to respond. Some of them agreed that the toughest task is predicting the other behavior of other motorists on the road.
Fischer recommended that school bus drivers conduct department safety meetings. He suggested for directors of transportation and/or safety trainers to assign a month to drivers for organizing safety meetings while sharing ideas with them on what they could discuss during these meetings.
He also pointed out that school districts with school buses equipped with cameras should look at the recorded videos on a daily basis to prevent school bus related incidents from continuously occuring. Safe behaviors that are rewarded will be repeated but wrong behavior that is not called out or reported will be repeated as well. This is why both Fischer and Baxter emphasized the importance of reporting any unprofessional behavior instead of looking the other way. They referred to this as “CYA” or covering your “Adam’s apple.” In other words, the advised taking appropriate measures to protect oneself from potential blame, legally or otherwise.
A former school bus driver in Springfield, Illinois, was sentenced to 23 years in prison on child pornography charges, reported WCIA News.
According to the news report, 38-year-old Anthony Marconi was sentenced last Thursday to 23 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of possessing child pornography on a computer and one count of solicitation of child pornography.
Authorities reportedly started looking into Marconi in October, which resulted in a search warrant being signed for his home on East Enos Avenue. He was arrested after that search found evidence of child sex abuse material. Marconi was employed by First Student at the time of his arrest.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul said via the article, “My office will continue to collaborate with law enforcement agencies to protect Illinois children by identifying and holding offenders who prey on them accountable.”
Raoul’s Office co-prosecuted Marconi’s case alongside the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The parents of a 10-year-old girl filed a lawsuit against their daughter’s district after the child was sexually assaulted on the school bus, reported Kansas City Star.
The federal lawsuit was filed against Taylorville Community Unit School District #3 and Durham School Services on June 17.
Local news reporters reached out to the district for comments but did not immediately hear back from the district. A spokesperson from school bus contractor Durham School Services said the company cannot comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit reportedly stems from an alleged sexual assault that took place during the 2023-2024 school year between students at Taylorville Junior High School.
According to the news report, in late January 2024, a 10-year-old girl with ADHD and autism was experiencing severe and pervasive bullying by a boy on board the bus and at a bus stop.
During a one-week period, the boy sat next to the girl on the school bus and repeatedly sexually assaulted her on their way home from school, the lawsuit said. The girl was corned as she was assaulted.
The complaint claims the boy told the girl that he would hurt her and her family if she told anyone about the incident. The boy also allegedly sexually assaulted her multiple times off the bus near a community center. The girl reportedly told a librarian at the center what happened, and her teacher was notified.
According to the lawsuit, the girl’s parents filed a police report, demanded protection from school officials and “insisted” the district to keep the boy away from their daughter. The district responded by placing the boy on a different school bus with younger children.
The complaint says the district took no measures whatsoever to prevent the boy from having access to the girl at or near the school bus stop.
After the alleged assault, the girl’s parents were told several times by community members that the boy had a prior history of engaging in acts of sexual improprieties on other younger children, according to the lawsuit via the article.
The lawsuit reportedly accuses the district of failing to notify all teachers of the safety plan, failing to get 30 days of bus footage after the assaults, failing to provide adequate safety protocols at and around the bus stops and on the bus, and failing to follow the order of protection issues on Feb. 2, 2024, which prohibited the boy from accessing the girl’s school.
The lawsuit is asking for an undetermined amount in damages.
Authorities arrested a Horry County, South Carolina, man last week in connection to an incident last month in which a gun was pointed at a school bus transporting students, reported WMBF News.
The incident occurred May 7, when 34-year-old Emmanuel Ingram pointed a gun at a school bus with children inside.
Police stated that the Horry County Schools bus driver was dropping students off at their homes and saw a suspect, later identified as Ingram, at one of the bus stops.
According to several witnesses, Ingram allegedly pointed a small black handgun at the bus.
He also got on board the bus and started yelling at the school bus driver and the children, police added. Security video obtained by police showed the bus driver asking Ingram to get off the bus multiple times. Initially Ingram refused to do so, but later left the bus without injuring anyone.
Police did note that they could not determine in the video footage if Ingram had a gun, due to the angle and quality of the cameras. However, Ingram is facing multiple charges, including three counts of pointing and presenting firearms at a person, interfering with the operations of a school bus and contempt of family court. He is being held without bond at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center.
The Eau Claire County Jail | Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner
Silver O. Jenkins
Silver O. Jenkins, 29, who was found unresponsive in the Eau Claire County Jail on the morning of March 12, 2023, had by choice eaten very little in the 27 days leading up to her death. She appeared ”emaciated,” raising concerns among jail and medical staff. Still, no interventions were taken to save her life because the sheriff’s office didn’t believe it had the authority for drastic measures and instead continued to offer her food and water and monitor her condition.
The Wisconsin Examiner’s Criminal Justice Reporting Project shines a light on incarceration, law enforcement and criminal justice issues with support from the Public Welfare Foundation.
The Eau Claire County in-custody death investigation report on Jenkins, prepared by the St. Croix Sheriff’s Office, was released Monday June 9.
St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson had told the Wisconsin Examiner back in July 2024 that the death investigation had been completed in August 2023, but the report was not available through a records request pending a review by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ).
On Monday, Eau Claire County Sheriff Dave Riewstahl issued a press release saying that the DOJ had “declined to bring charges.”
The investigation included interviews with the sheriff, the jail’s security services captain Travis Holbrook, four shift sergeants, 17 correctional officers, Christ Hill with the Eau Claire County Department of Health Services and five employees of Wellpath, an agency providing medical and mental health services to the jail.
“The Wisconsin Department of Justice concluded criminal charges were not appropriate in this matter,” said Riewestahl.
Jenkins was booked into jail on February 9, 2023, for criminal trespass and held on a $500 cash bond. By Feb. 18, Jenkins had refused 22 meals.
On Feb. 19, 2023, due to difficulty breathing, Jenkins was transferred to the Mayo Clinic, where she received two liters of IV fluids and was returned to jail on Feb. 20, 2023.
On February 28, 2023, Jenkins again requested to go to the hospital due to chest pains, but the request was denied.
On March 3, Jenkins was moved to a special needs cell at the suggestion of a clinical social worker, where there are better facilities for showering.
On March 5, Jenkins asked to see a nurse and go to a hospital, and again her request was denied.
The nurse attending Jenkins on March 5 said it was challenging to obtain heart rate and blood pressure because Jenkins would not sit still.
On March 8, Jenkins made a court appearance via a laptop held by correctional officer Craig Berg, who told the investigators on that date Jenkins looked malnourished. Berg later told Sgt. Phil Field, the day-shift sergeant, that he didn’t think Jenkins would be physically able to make a court appearance the following week.
On March 8, Field sent out an email that states, “I witnessed her in her cell a few moments ago and observed that she is very emaciated from the last time I personally saw her. It appears that most of her hair is gone and her overall physical appearance does not look well. Her log indicates that she did eat some the past 2 days but mostly refused for many days before.”
The investigation revealed that Holbrook, who was in charge of the jail, took no action because he thought the situation was under control and the medical staff was monitoring her condition.
Riewestahl said he had asked Hill whether his office could use a Chapter 51 mental health detainment to address the feeding issue with Jenkins.
Hill told the investigators that Chapter 51 emergency detentions cannot be used for medical conditions, although it was Riewestahl’s opinion that Jenkins was also experiencing mental health issues.
Jenkins’ cell | Photo from St. Croix Sheriff investigators’ report
Correctional officer Ryan Addis had the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift starting March 11. He said he passed by Jenkins’ cell in the early morning hours of March 12, between 1-2 a.m., and Jenkins was lying on the ground naked but moving. He didn’t enter the cell because in a previous situation, he did try to help her, and she lunged at him and he noted she had previously slept on the floor naked.
Addis said he noticed Jenkins was breathing and moving. He could also see her skeletal structure and what he observed concerned him, prompting Addis to send an email to the nursing staff asking what was being done for Jenkins.
Addis said he talked to his morning replacement, Byran Dachel, and they both thought Jenkins was dying.
Addis said he went home and told his wife that Jenkins would be dead within a week or a couple of days, and he determined, when he saw Jenkins again, to intervene and offer her some juice or “something.”
But later that Sunday morning, March 12, Jenkins was found in her cell by medical personnel not breathing, and her body was cold.
Jenkins’ cell | Photo from St. Croix Sheriff investigators’ report
The autopsy findings, reported by Kristin E. Howell, M.D. Assistant Medical Examiner, attributed Jenkins’ death to “dehydration due to voluntary restriction of food and liquids.”
Day shift Sgt. Kevin Otto said in his interview that he didn’t believe Jenkins’ death was inevitable.
“I mean, all the players that were involved, something should have happened, and it always seemed to just get dumped back on us as a staff.”
He added, “I just think the staff was, were frustrated, we don’t know what to do with her. We’re not capable of doing it in our roles, and it seemed like the people that could weren’t doing it.”
Several of the jail staff said they felt frustrated in that all they were being asked to do was monitor and document Jenkins’ condition, but nothing was being done to ameliorate it other than offering her food and water.
Sheriff and jail captain
Since 2019, Jenkins had spent 205 days in the Eau Claire County jail for various charges.
Sheriff Riewstahl said that often when Jenkins was released, she would ask to be taken to a local hospital and then refuse to leave the hospital’s premises, resulting in a complaint and Jenkins returning to jail.
Riewstahl, Holbrook and others interviewed also noted that Jenkins from previous stints in the jail would often not eat the food offered to her and even ask for bottled water instead of using water from the jail sink.
Hill said she believes Jenkins didn’t have a food disorder, but that refusing to eat gave her one thing she could control in her otherwise chaotic life.
“Silver has severe mental health issues, and our jail is the largest mental health facility here in Eau Claire County,” said Riewestahl. “Jails have been turned into the answer for mental health.”
He added, “we are technically a jail but the people that come to us have more mental health crisis needs at a different level than a Chapter 51 [a person who is involuntarily committed for mental health reasons].”
Investigator Dustin Geisness asked Riewestahl if he was aware of any concerns being expressed by the jail or medical staff regarding Jenkins.
“Ultimately, the hunger strike was a concern, and it was a concern every time she’s been here,” he said.
Holbrook also told investigators there was concern every time Jenkins returned to jail
“Obviously we know Silver as often as she’s here,” he said. “We know she‘s a problematic inmate, not cooperative, whatever. We knew that something potentially could happen someday.”
He added, “She was a non-cooperative inmate. She was offered food, medical services. A lot of times or sometimes she would refuse that, sometimes she wouldn’t. You never knew what she was going to do.”
He said Jenkins was never on a full hunger strike and occasionally would eat small amounts of food offered.
He was asked about March 12 when she was naked on the floor and noted that was normal behavior for Jenkins and that she was often naked.
Holbrook also said the local hospitals didn’t want to see Jenkins unless it was an emergency because she had been disruptive there during previous visits. He said because everyone was aware the hospitals were reluctant to see Jenkins that may have played a part in not sending her to a hospital again before her death.
“Most of the hospitals don’t want nothing to do with her here, so even when we’d bring her there for something, we’d get a lot of heat from the hospital,” he said.
Holbrook was asked by the investigator after Feb. 19, when Jenkins returned from the hospital, if anything different was done for Jenkins besides documenting her condition and food intake.
“They’re just still documenting, documenting, documenting and in my opinion that sounds like the definition of insanity,” said investigator Geisness. Holbrook concurred, saying, “Over and over.”
Holbrook was also asked, “Who is ultimately responsible for this jail?” and he responded, “Ultimately, ultimately, yeah, that’s exactly. That’s the problem.”
Holbrook also said there was a “leadership issue,” but he didn’t specifically place responsibility for the issue on himself or staff or the sheriff.
Investigator Capt. Tim Kufus asked a similar question of the sheriff: “But while she’s here, whose responsibility is she?”
A Staten Island school bus matron New York City’s term for an aide or monitor — for students with special needs pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing after being accused of invading the home of a family from her route with a knife, reported SLive News.
The incident reportedly occurred on Dec. 6, when 59-year-old Joanne Dash entered the unidentified family’s property in the New Springville neighborhood.
According to the news report, a person at the home told authorities the defendant was in the area that leads to the main living room armed with a knife. An 18-year-old male resident came downstairs and encountered Dash before she fled in a vehicle but not before shouting, “You cost me my job.”
Dash was reportedly arrested on Dec. 17. Court documents do not state whether she had any interactions with anyone at the home prior to the incident, but sources with knowledge of the case said the victims were from her school bus route.
The article states that Dash was arraigned in criminal court on May 1, was granted supervised release, and appeared in supreme court last week on her own volition. The court, meanwhile, issued a full and final order of protection for the owner and residence of the property where the incident took place.
On June 5 while in court, Dash’s attorney John Rapawy told the judge that his client was fully aware of the terms of her plea deal and that she had full support of her family in putting the matter behind her. It remains unclear why Dash tresspassed the property in the first place.
The defendant reportedly assured the court that she was willing to waive several rights in taking a guilty plea, including the right to appeal and to review the prosecution’s evidence.
Per the approval of prosecutors and after further investigation, the court ordered Dash to complete 16 courses of anger management as a means to resolve the case. The defendant was reportedly facing the possibility of between five and 25 years in prison had she been convicted by a jury on the top count in connection to the incident.
If Dash violates the terms of the plea deal, she could be sentenced to one year in jail.
A bus contractor for Boston Public Schools (BPS) is being sued after one of its school driver allegedly caused a crash that injured an 8-year-old student with autism, reported WCVB 5.
The incident reportedly occurred last year, when a school bus veered onto a sidewalk at the Curley School in Jamaica Plain and struck the child, who was walking with a school aide.
According to the article, the lawsuit, filed this month by the child’s family, alleges gross negligence by contractor Transdev and its employees, citing inadequate supervision, failure to ensure alert and competent staff, and systemic safety failures.
The crash was captured by a dashboard camera in the school bus. Footage reportedly shows the bus driver and bus safety monitor, who were not identified, napping in their seats just moments before the driver awoke, started the bus, and swerved into pedestrians standing on the sidewalk.
The injured child’s guardian said the incident almost took her child’s life and that Transdev must be held accountable to protect children and prevent this from ever happening again.
Following the crash, police stated said the bus driver made multiple false claims, including that the bus experienced a “mechanical issue (steering).” But the investigating officer found that all existing mechanical issues on the bus were a result of the crash.
The bus driver also claimed that as he was pulling the bus forward, a vehicle cut in front of him, and that in attempt to avoid the vehicle he turned the steering wheel in the opposite direction but pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal by mistake.
According to the news report, the child sustained a broken femur, which resulted in surgery and months of impatient hospital care and treatment.
The lawsuit follows an independent investigation into school transportation safety by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and BPS, launched after a 5-year-old was struck and killed by a bus in the city’s Hyde Park April 28. The BPS bus driver, identified as Jean Charles, was driving on an expired school bus certificate, which he had been notified about.
Natashia Tidwell, a former federal prosecutor and police officer who specializes in external investigations, will lead the independent review of safety policies and performance under contracts with Transdev, the transportation company that has been contracting with BPS since 2013 to hire, train and manage the district’s approximately 750 school bus drivers.
A Bay District school bus driver has been arrested after being accused of child abuse, reported Panama City News Herald.
The incident reportedly occurred May 13, when school bus driver Stacy Christy Halloran allegedly struck a 12-year-old student in his upper right back with an open hand.
It is unclear what prompted this incident. However, the act was caught on the school bus security video. According to the news report, the slap was so hard that it could be heard in the video, which was taken with a camera located three rows from the front of the bus.
Halloran was reportedly charged with cruelty towards child/abuse without great bodily harm and was removed from duty. Her next court date is July 21.
Bay District’s Superintendent Mark McQueen said via the article that the incident is both troubling and disappointing. The investigation is ongoing.
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