Spurred by a recent incident in which a parent entered a school bus without the bus driver’s permission, John Marciante Jr., superintendent of schools for Manalapan-Englishtown (N.J.) Regional School District, wrote a letter outlining to parents and guardians changes he is making to rules about parents boarding school buses.
Marciante wrote that as of Oct. 3, if a parent boards a bus without permission of the bus driver, the district will send an incident report to the police department; appoint the district's director for safety and security to investigate the incident to determine whether specific charges should be filed; and revoke the busing privileges for all children of the individual for the remainder of the year.
The recent incident is being investigated by the district’s director for safety and security.
“I believe that this is a serious incident and an unfortunate reflection of civility in today’s society,” Marciante wrote. “Anyone who has recently attended a soccer or baseball game has seen that what some individuals consider to be acceptable behavior today is quite different from past standards.”
Marciante added in the letter that the district will continue to ask for seat belt assistance from the parents of kindergarten students during the first two weeks of the school year.
District cracks down on parents boarding buses
After a parent entered a school bus without the driver’s permission, the superintendent of Manalapan-Englishtown (N.J.) Regional School District told parents in a letter that future incidents will prompt an incident report to the police, an investigation into whether charges should be filed, and revocation of bus privileges for all children of the parent for the remainder of the year.
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