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File photo (Meghan McCarthy/The Palm Beach Daily News)
Approving a three-day suspension for a school bus driver who shoved a student was expected to be a quick, easy decision for Palm Beach County School Board members.
But the disciplinary vote became the springboard into a broader debate Wednesday about whether the district is doing enough to protect school bus drivers.
“I just want us to step back and use this as a focal point for addressing safety,” board member Debra Robinson said, explaining why she asked for a discussion before voting to suspend the driver, Robert Richardson, who shoved a sixth-grader off a bus in May.
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School board member Debra Robinson
Robinson conceded that she thought “the adult in this situation could have responded in a more appropriate way.”
But she said that at least part of the problem was the fact that a substitute bus driver was forced to deal with a belligerent student on his own.
“In addition to the low pay, the horrible hours . . . we are not, in my humble opinion, addressing safety as well as we can,” Robinson said.
Other board members quickly chimed in.
Board member Frank Barbieri suggested that if students run around on the bus and create problems while it’s in motion, their parents should be warned and, if necessary, students should be barred from riding.
Board member Erica Whitfield suggested that the district examine how it recruits and hires substitute bus drivers.
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Meghan McCarthy/The Palm Beach Daily News
Board member Mike Murgio said that when he was principal he told parents who complainted about bus drivers to imagine driving with three children in the back seat and then “multiply that by 20.”
He suggested that the school district needs to move faster to utilize GPS technology so drivers and parents can get a better sense of where buses and bus stops are.
“We’re a $2 billiion operation,” he said. “If we can’t get this thing going in four months, there’s an issue somewhere.”
The discussion was all prompted by a vote on Richardson’s actions.
School police investigators concluded Richardson acted inappropriately last May when he argued with and then shoved a sixth-grader who attended Eagles Landing Middle School.
Richardson was removed from driving duties after the incident. He will be back behind the wheel once the suspension is served.
A district report said Richardson was substituting on an unfamiliar route May 16 when he missed a stop. That led to a yelling match on the bus between the driver and several students.
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