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Thursday, May 17, 2012

UPDATE Wicomico County Mom Wants School Bus Driver Fired for Negligence

SALISBURY, Md.- Wicomic County Public School sent out a press release on Wednesday May, 16 in response to an incident that occurred on school bus number 78 on Tuesday, May 15. (http://www.wcboe.org/news/statement-from-wicomico-county-public-schools-on-b-1117)
Jessica Smithson says she got a call from the Head of Transportation, Dave Reeve explaining to her that action will be taken. "I did ask him blankly 'What is going to be the consequence?' and he said 'Well I'm not at liberty to tell you that' he said that I can tell you judging from the circumstances from yesterday that it will not be a verbal warning," says Smithson.
In the release Wicomico County Public Schools states actions they can take are:
Verbally reprimand a driver, issue a written reprimand, suspend eligibility to operate a bus transporting public school students, or disqualify a driver from eligibility for transporting public school students. The consequences are aligned with a driver's record.
And Wicomico County Public Schools listed this as the responsibilities of a bus driver:
School bus drivers transporting students of Wicomico County Public Schools are instructed to discharge students only at school or at their assigned stop. The only exception to this procedure is if the driver has written authorization from a school administrator or Transportation staff.
Smithson says she won't stop until the bus driver is fired. For now, she says she will not allow her son on the bus until the situation is resolved.
Wicomico County mother Jessica Smithson said the driver of her son's school bus left him on the side of the road when he said he was sick and wanted to get off the bus. Smithson said she found her son Jason, a student at Bennett High School, walking on North West Road in Salisbury. He was three miles from home with blood all over him.
"I thought she was just going to stay there and like wait for my mom to come and then when she drove off I'm like, 'Wow, she actually drove off,' not knowing what was going to happen to me," Jason said.
Smithson said her son Jason suffered a head injury the week before at Bennett High School, which she believes was the cause of the nose bleed. She thinks it also caused Jason to pass out just a few days prior.
"I want her fired, period. You don't leave someone's child on the side of the road. Kids can lie everyday and say they want to get off the bus. [Are] you going to let every kid off the bus that says they want to get off the bus,"Smithson said.
Smithson said the director of the transportation from Wicomico County Board of Education called her and in reference to the driver of the bus said it was "completely unacceptable and total negligence on her part and it will be dealt with."

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