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Parent tells Isle of Wight school board: 'Where is the accountability?' after alleged bus safety lapses
Summary
A parent told the board that special-needs students have been left unsupervised and mistreated on buses, citing incomplete video evidence and questioning hiring and vetting. The board received the comments during public comment and heard additional supportive testimony; no formal action was taken at the meeting.
Janine Scherrer, a parent and advocate for children with disabilities, urged the Isle of Wight County School Board to improve transportation oversight after describing multiple incidents she said involved special-needs students.
Scherrer described cases she called patterns rather than isolated events: a nonverbal student allegedly left at a bus stop without adult supervision, drivers failing to allow students to clear the safety zone, excessive yelling at special-needs students and a recent incident she described as a staff member placing a hand on a student’s backside. She said requests for full video footage of an incident produced only partial footage and that her review of hiring and vetting information raised additional concerns.
"When concerns are minimized, when communication is incomplete, and when accountability is unclear, trust is broken," Scherrer said, urging the division to ensure drivers and aides are properly trained, vetted and held accountable.
Board members listened during the public-comment period; the transcript records Scherrer’s full statement but does not record a formal staff response or a committed follow-up action during the meeting.
Other public commenters later praised the superintendent’s outreach to staff and discussed governance issues; the board did not vote on transportation policy changes at this session. Scherrer said other families have come forward with issues involving the same bus driver and asked for greater transparency and full investigations moving forward.
The board’s operational staff later noted transportation fuel costs and routing strategies in their operations update, but no additional public record in the meeting indicates immediate new staffing or procedural changes to address the specific complaints raised during public comment.
