Connellsville School District Considers Action Against Students And Parents Involved In Heated Bus Incident
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Following an investigation, leaders from the Connellsville Area School District are now considering disciplinary action against students and parents who were involved in a bus incident last week.
Parents had previously made claims that the driver threatened children, parked the bus and refused to continue his route. But the school district is saying the driver did nothing wrong.
According to the school district, it learned during an investigation that multiple students violated the ridership code of conduct with their behavior both prior to and during the incident.
District leaders came to this conclusion after reviewing a series of video and audio recordings. The bus company, TA Nelson, previously stated that the driver called dispatch regarding some unruly children on the bus and was instructed to pull over and wait for a school representative.
While this was happening, parents eventually showed up and pried open the door to get their kids off the bus. Some parents alleged that the driver refused to continue his route, threatened their kids and turned up the heat on the bus. Those claims were never substantiated during the investigation, a district spokesperson told KDKA.
The district said the driver did exactly what he was supposed to do, because in accordance with the district's security protocols bus drivers are not authorized to release any student to anybody without confirmation from school personnel.
The district also said that the actions of some parents and students cannot be condoned and that they only amplified the chaos.
"Particularly after they entered the bus and some of the words that had been exchanged by the parents, the elevated voices and mannerisms of some of the parents who were involved," solicitor Timothy J. Witt, Solicitor said.
The district is asking Connellsville police to investigate and charged the adults involved with disorderly conduct, institutional vandalism and unauthorized school bus entry.
The district is in the process of evaluating how to discipline some of the students allegedly misbehaving on the bus that day.
