Pasco County (Fla.) Schools bus assistant James Lambert was charged with two counts of child abuse after allegedly striking a 10-year-old boy for cursing. The district had planned to start the process of terminating his employment, according to a spokeswoman. Lambert had been reprimanded multiple times in the past; however, in none of those instances was he accused of hitting a child.
Read More →
The Union County Board of Developmental Disabilities in Ohio presents Sharon Parker with a Community Starfish Award. Alan Mustard, First Student location manager, says Parker is “dedicated to the children she helps transport, and is committed to making riding the bus a positive experience by showing them care, compassion and respect.”
Read More →The New Jersey legislation would require the commissioner of education to develop such a program, and it would need to include, at minimum, instruction on appropriate behavior management, effective communication, use and operation of adaptive equipment, and understanding behaviors that may be related to specific disabilities.
Read More →Missouri officials say that a school bus driver and an aide left a nonverbal 19-year-old in her wheelchair on the bus and then found her at the end of the school day. School staff gave the student fluids and checked her vital signs before taking her home.
Read More →
Sarah Guilford began working at Washington Elementary School District #6 in Phoenix in one of the school cafeterias, and she became a bus driver three years later. She now works part time as a bus assistant, and she discusses with SBF changes to the industry over the years and her experiences with students.
Read More →Two children in West Virginia died in the fire in their home on Oct. 21. In response, a bus aide and a group of drivers, with the help of the Logan City Fire Department, give out hundreds of free smoke detectors to grade-school children who ride Logan County buses.
Read More →State Rep. Anthony Giarrusso's son was among the passengers on a school bus whose monitor was arrested on child pornography charges. While the monitor had passed the state background check that Rhode Island requires, Giarrusso says he will introduce a bill to also require national background checks for school bus drivers and monitors.
Read More →When Mary Bennett, a bus driver for Volusia County Schools, and her attendant, Jackie Murphy, stop to pick up two special-needs students on their route, Bennett hears the students’ babysitter in their home calling for help and sees her on the floor. After Murphy calls 911, she and Bennett help the students onto the bus, and Murphy keeps them calm until emergency response arrives.
Read More →Alpine School District in American Fork, Utah, faced a 5% cut in federal funding for special education due to sequestration, and in working to balance the needs in the classroom and on buses, the district reduced the number of aides for special-needs routes from 100 to 67.
Read More →Quiana Greene is charged with second-degree cruelty to a child, for which she pleads not guilty. She tells investigators that a school staff member who boarded the bus never called out the child’s name to indicate that he needed to disembark, and Greene assumed the bus was empty.
Read More →