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Former Monongalia County bus driver tells board route was unsafe, urges immediate aide after incidents
Summary
At the May 13 meeting a former bus driver, April Rowan, described safety incidents on a school bus route with large ridership, said she was forced to resign after raising concerns, and asked the board to add an aide and change the route.
MONONGALIA COUNTY, W.Va. — During public comment at the Monongalia County Board of Education meeting on May 13, April Rowan, a former county school bus driver, told the board she lost her job after raising safety concerns about a route she had been assigned and asked the board to place an aide on that route immediately.
Rowan said she was hired April 14 as a full‑time driver for Monongalia County but found she could not safely complete the assigned route. She described incidents on the bus, including students throwing candy and a Powerade bottle that broke and narrowly missed a student’s head. She said the afternoon trip was chaotic and that she had “36 to 52 students at one stop” with five adults and a sixth‑grader assigned to receive the riders. Rowan said her training did not prepare her to manage that situation alone.
Rowan said she reported the problems to supervisors and called base during the incidents but that base did not respond. She described being threatened on the bus and recounted an episode when a parent boarded the bus and verbally threatened her. She told the board she permitted children off the bus because parents insisted, then later learned two boys were left at an upstairs apartment, which she said heightened her concern for student safety. Rowan said she was forced to resign and offered to meet with board members or staff to resolve the route’s safety issues.
Rowan told the board she sent email documentation to members and provided hard copies at the meeting. She asked the board to fix contact details so members receive her correspondence. She said she was willing to meet with “whoever will listen” and urged immediate action, warning the district that continued problems could lead to a lawsuit.
Board members did not engage in a substantive response during the public comment period. A board member said the Sunshine Law prevents the board from discussing certain personnel matters in public and declined to respond. A board member requested a copy of Rowan’s email; she handed a hard copy to staff.
The district did not take formal action on the request at the May 13 meeting. Rowan asked the board to reassign the route and to place a bus aide on the bus, and she said she was open to meeting with staff to pursue changes.
