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Parents describe swerving bus on first-grade field trip; district vows follow-up and to blacklist driver
Summary
Parents told the Verona board a contracted field-trip bus was swerving on a highway and later hit a pole; the district said it is investigating, will follow up with the bus company and intends to blacklist the driver from future Verona assignments.
Several parents described a troubling incident on a first-grade field trip at the June 12 meeting, saying a contracted bus driver swerved on a highway with students aboard and later struck a telephone pole while escorting children back to school.
Melissa Vecarelli, a parent who spoke to the board, said police pulled the bus over and that the driver was swerving. "I wouldn't say it wasn't a problem... he was swerving on a highway with a bus full of kids," Vecarelli said during public comment. Another parent, Stephanie Pogorelick, said she was on the bus and that the driver "was swerving quite bad" and seemed too old to be driving the route.
District staff and administrators told the board they were following up with the contracted bus company (identified in the meeting as STI/Jordan Trenton). The superintendent said staff had spoken to the Verona police and to the contractor’s supervisor and that Mister Freund (who led the field trip) would make initial contact; staff said the district would escalate the matter to the superintendent and the board if necessary.
District staff also said as an initial enforcement step they would 'blacklist' the driver from future Verona assignments based on the incident. The district clarified contracted drivers are vetted annually and that the district sometimes cannot choose the exact driver assigned to a contracted route; the district said teachers would contact principals if an on-route safety concern arises so a replacement driver can be dispatched.
The board did not announce any formal discipline of the contractor at the meeting, but assigned follow-up tasks: Mister Freund to contact the contractor and the superintendent or business official to escalate if their response is unsatisfactory. The district said it will review driver assignment practices for field trips and the contractor's internal vetting records.
The meeting record shows the district will follow up with the contractor and that staff stated the driver will be blocked from future Verona assignments as an immediate step.
