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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
 Posted - 05/20/2005 : 8:54:12 PM
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This story is odd. It starts out talking about a bus driver's possible inappropriate behavior with children, then seems to suggest or lump leaving a child on the bus as serious an offense. I can understand how a child could be left on the bus and provided there was no injury would not over react. But I would be more uncomfortable with a driver overdoing comments - "that many times the bus driver (Davis) tells me that I am very pretty and that I dress very nice....and that I was a very good girl and that he needed a hug from me." - Asking for hugs after making such comments? I don't mind school staff, including bus drivers, hugging my grandkids. Regardless, the situation in this story seems odd and invites caution.
May 20 2005
WOAI TV 4 NEWS
Texas - We trust them with our children's lives every day. How well do you know your child's school bus driver? News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Brian Collister uncovers something every parent should know before putting their child on the bus.
What we found during our 3 month investigation is that there are some bus drivers out there who could put your kids at risk. And even worse - sometimes the school district they work for doesn't even know the whole story.
Oralia Arrendondo got worried when her six year old daughter claimed her bus driver, Kelvin Davis, was hugging her and other girls on a South San Antonio ISD school bus.
Arrendondo explains what her daughter told her. "Well, you know, he's given me one hug, and he hugs so and so when she gets off the bus and another little girl as she gets off the bus." And I was like, "Well, you know, how long has this been going on?" And she said, "Well, a couple of times, you know, he's done it.”
In a complaint to the district Arrendondo says her daughter told her “that many times the bus driver (Davis) tells me that I am very pretty and that I dress very nice....and that I was a very good girl and that he needed a hug from me.”
When South San ISD officials checked Davis' background they discovered things that were not good. The records showed more complaints about an incident involving inappropriate touching at Southwest ISD.
A reprimand from his personnel file shows that district warned Davis, "If at all possible, do not touch the students". The Trouble Shooters wanted to know how he could get hired to drive a bus at South San ISD.
We went to South San's district public information officer Ed Suarez for some answers. Collister: “He had a similar allegation at the previous school district. Did your district call and check his reference?” Suarez: “No we did not.”
Collister: “Why not?” Suarez: “I'm assuming the procedure that we used at the time, and probably still use at this time, is to check his service records and criminal history.”
WOAI learned Kelvin Davis denied to his bosses at South San ISD that he was hugging students but he chose to resign anyway.
If you’re thinking his school bus driving days are over you’re wrong! Trouble Shooter Brian Collister found Davis driving a bus for Northside ISD.
Click Here for story
Here we have a licensed attorney that seems to claim not able to figure out why a child would be offended by what the school bus driver was doing to her. I find that difficult to believe and would wonder about that attorney's private activities with kids as well.
Ex-driver guilty of 'clutching' girl on bus
May 20 2005
Suburban Chicago News Sun
A former bus driver for the Beach Park Grade School district entered a modified guilty plea Thursday in Lake County Circuit Court to "clutching" an 8-year-old girl, and was sentenced to supervision and a sex offender evaluation.
Alfred E. Jones, a 62-year-old Zion resident, was also sentenced by Associate Judge John Phillips to paying a $1,000 fine to the Lake County Children's Advocacy Center, serving 30 hours of public service work, and not driving school buses or working in areas where children would play.
He also can have no unsupervised contact with children under 17 who are not related.
Jones, through defense attorney Barry Boches, entered an "Alford plea" which does not admit guilt but acknowledges that the evidence and testimony in the case could lead to a guilty verdict.
The plea came to a reduced count of battery, for an insulting physical contact, which is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.
Prosecutor George Pappas said Jones had allowed the girl to be a "monitor" in January and February of 2003, standing at the front of the bus and opening the door for other students. "She said when she opened the door, he reached under her shirt and rubbed her stomach and once her thigh. And he told her not to tell or he'd go to jail."
He befriended the girl's mother, Pappas said, and the girl once visited his wood shop. "He had her sit on his lap, and she said he wanted to kiss, and that made her uncomfortable."
Pappas said "this touching impacted the entire family and community, whatever his motivation was."
He recommended a sentence of two years of conditional discharge.
Boches said "we are all very sorry that this young child" experienced a problem. "We agree there was clutching that took place but not that it was inappropriate. The last thing he wanted was to impact this child the way he did; he tried to be nice but it went awry."
Prosecutors "did an incredible investigation, they interviewed every child who rode on Jones' bus" over a several-year period. None others felt he had done anything inappropriate, Boches said, "I don't know why this child was so offended."
Click Here for story
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Disciplined School Bus Drivers Busted
