GRAHAM, Wash. — Parents in Graham are concerned after students had to tell a new school bus driver that they were at the wrong school – and that’s just one of many complaints.
Mom Megan Collins said a cell phone video, shot by her daughter, validated the 12-year-old's concerns.
“If I hadn’t been on FaceTime with my daughter and the video, she had sent me I probably would have just thought that too, but I saw it so, I know that’s not true,” Collins said.
The kids claim Monday’s ride to Centennial Elementary School, in Graham south of Tacoma, was a bumpy one. They say the fill-in bus driver hit a curb, a bush and pulled into the wrong school, scrapping the side of the bus on a gate.
“The way that the district handled the entire situation is what’s not okay with me. None of the protocols that are put in place for safety were done at all. No parents were notified. No one came out to check the kids medically, a police report was never filed, all those things were supposed to happen,” Collins said.
The district is not denying what happened, saying that the driver did hit a bush and gate – but adds that after reviewing the onboard footage they feel the bus driver “drove cautiously” and is taking no further action.
This year there will be many more new drivers as the Bethel School District, like many across the state, have worked to increase the number of bus drivers. In January, the district says they hired nine new drivers with 14 currently in training.
"Our recruitment efforts are really paying off, so much so that we will also begin an additional driver training session in February," said a district administrator in a letter to parents earlier this school year.
The Bethel School District hires its own drivers, it does not contract out to a school bus provider. In a job opening on its website, it says all applicants, among other requirements, must have a commercial driver’s license and submit to mandatory drug testing.
But Collins said she isn’t trusting anyone new, adding that if she sees a fresh face behind the wheel, she’s driving her student to school.
“I don’t really care if it was your first day or hundredth day driving a bus I should be able to trust that you can get my kid to and from school safely,” Collins said.