Post by momto4 on May 15, 2009 14:04:33 GMT -5
I want to let you know about two serious incidents that happened with employees of First Student, the district's transportation provider.
The first incident happened May 7 on a First Student bus in a neighborhood on the North side of Naperville when a First Student driver exposed himself to a fifth-grade female student. The fifth-grader was the only student on the bus at the time. First Student suspended the driver immediately upon learning of the incident and has since fired the employee. The Naperville Police informed us that they have arrested the driver and reported that no physical harm was done to the student. First Student requires all of its drivers to pass extensive federal, state and local background checks as a condition of employment, and regular rechecks are conducted throughout an employee's tenure with the company. First Student has reported to us that this individual's initial background check and repeated checks came back clear.
The second incident also happened on May 7, but is unrelated. A driver asked a seventh-grade student to get off the bus on the way to school after recognizing the student was not on the correct bus. There was a family emergency that necessitated the student riding on a different bus that morning. The driver used extremely poor judgment and should have erred on the side of caution and safely transported the student to school. The district asked First Student to remove the driver involved in this incident from all District 204 bus routes. First Student has since terminated the employee.
As a district, we contract with First Student with the obvious expectation that the company will safely transport all of our students to and from school each day. The actions on the part of both drivers are completely unacceptable. Any incident that compromises the safety of our students is extremely serious. I want to assure you that we have had numerous conversations with First Student to discuss both of these incidents, and more importantly, to stress the district's concern for the safety of our students.
Stephen Daeschner
Superintendent
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School District 204
www.ipsd.org
780 Shoreline Drive
Aurora, IL 60504
USA
The first incident happened May 7 on a First Student bus in a neighborhood on the North side of Naperville when a First Student driver exposed himself to a fifth-grade female student. The fifth-grader was the only student on the bus at the time. First Student suspended the driver immediately upon learning of the incident and has since fired the employee. The Naperville Police informed us that they have arrested the driver and reported that no physical harm was done to the student. First Student requires all of its drivers to pass extensive federal, state and local background checks as a condition of employment, and regular rechecks are conducted throughout an employee's tenure with the company. First Student has reported to us that this individual's initial background check and repeated checks came back clear.
The second incident also happened on May 7, but is unrelated. A driver asked a seventh-grade student to get off the bus on the way to school after recognizing the student was not on the correct bus. There was a family emergency that necessitated the student riding on a different bus that morning. The driver used extremely poor judgment and should have erred on the side of caution and safely transported the student to school. The district asked First Student to remove the driver involved in this incident from all District 204 bus routes. First Student has since terminated the employee.
As a district, we contract with First Student with the obvious expectation that the company will safely transport all of our students to and from school each day. The actions on the part of both drivers are completely unacceptable. Any incident that compromises the safety of our students is extremely serious. I want to assure you that we have had numerous conversations with First Student to discuss both of these incidents, and more importantly, to stress the district's concern for the safety of our students.
Stephen Daeschner
Superintendent
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School District 204
www.ipsd.org
780 Shoreline Drive
Aurora, IL 60504
USA