In a very disturbing incident, a school bus driver employed by Jay’s Bus Service has been banned from transporting students within the Freehold Regional School District after temporarily leaving a group of students unattended. According to a report from News12, the incident occurred on Monday while the driver was transporting students from Howell High School.
According to officials, the driver made an unscheduled stop at his residence with students still aboard the bus, leaving them as he went inside for several minutes, apparently to retrieve a folder that possibly had the bus route in it.
The school district issued a statement saying that the bus was parked outside the driver’s home for approximately three minutes, and no students left the bus during that time. Nevertheless, the incident has sparked questions about safety protocols and the need for stricter adherence to them. In accordance with regulations, the school district promptly notified the state authorities about the incident.
As of now, Jay’s Bus Service has not provided an official response regarding the incident, nor has it provided any information as to whether the bus driver has been suspended or simply transferred to another route, perhaps in Lakewood or Jackson.
Whats the big deal? You can’t leave high school age unattended for 3 minutes ?
‘In a very disturbing incident’… isn’t that a little overkill???. the driver made a bad call by leaving the kids unattended but if he went to retrieve the folder that had the routes, as the story suggests while not making light of the incident but one can be little sympathetic to the driver that perhaps was in a bind as he/she needed the routes.. if the driver is otherwise a good and safe driver many would make the case that perhaps just a warning is warranted and not termination..