Three high-profile student transportation incidents in recent months should have Calcasieu Parish parents worried — and should
have school officials scrambling for responsible remedies:
• On Monday morning, State Police
arrested a substitute bus driver, speeding and weaving on La. 27, for
drunken driving, minutes
after he completed his bus routes transporting 49 Calcasieu
schoolchildren. The driver’s level of intoxication was measured
at more than twice the legal limit, 0.211.
• In December, a day-care bus drove away from a Calcasieu elementary school with a 6-year-old child who was not supposed to
be on the vehicle. Four frenzied hours later, the child was returned to his worried parents. The school has amended how it
oversees children awaiting buses home.
• In October, a Calcasieu bus driver,
acting at the direction of the dance team sponsor, left behind — and
alone — a Washington-Marion
High freshman at Walmart in Lake Charles. The dance team sponsor
had had a harsh exchange with the student. School officials
say they took action, but refused to say how publicly.
In the latter two cases, a single child was imperiled or might have been imperiled when representatives of the schools either
left or lost them. That’s risky enough.
In this week’s incident, though, the health and safety of more than four dozen students were at stake. Parents should expect
the school system to show great interest in making sure the incident is not repeated.
First, on the face of things, the
schools are not necessarily at fault in this latest incident. Substitute
driver Matthew
Oliver Richard, 26, was hired temporarily while the school system
awaited results of his background check. That’s OK, according
to state law and school system policy.
But plenty did go wrong, no matter who
is to blame. Forty-nine schoolchildren under 12 were left in the care of
an apparently
impaired man, and the results of his background check might have
sounded a clear warning to school officials before they handed
Richard the keys to a bus.
Calcasieu School Board chairman R.L.
Webb knows how close this call was. “We were lucky that he was able to
unload those children
before he created a real problem, such as wrecking the bus,” Webb
said. He is right. A drunken driver with 49 passengers makes
for a deadly mix.
Webb said he would try to meet with Calcasieu Superintendent Wayne Savoy today to discuss school policy. Good idea.
Webb said he would like to see background checks completed before potential employees begin work. That’s a very good idea.
In this case, Calcasieu board policy should be more stringent than state law.
Worried Calcasieu parents should have some questions about this incident. School officials should find the right answers.
• • •
This editorial was written by a member of the American Press Editorial Board. Its content reflects the collaborative opinion of the Board, whose members include Bobby Dower, Ken Stickney,
Jim Beam, Crystal Stevenson and Donna Price.