Beaver Area school officials said Wednesday they plan to meet with bus company officials after a state police spot check outside the junior-senior high school flagged nearly one in three drivers for violations.
Of the 13 bus divers stopped Tuesday:
⢠One was cited for not having a commercial drivers license.
⢠Two were fined for failing to have medical cards.
⢠One had an expired medical card.
⢠One was not authorized to drive a school bus.
P. Ferguson Transportation in Beaver, which the district hired to provide bus transportation, was fined $1,000 for each violation. The drivers were issued $500 fines for each violation, state police said.
Ferguson Transportation did not return several telephone messages left yesterday.
Schools Superintendent John Hansen said Ferguson officials told the district the citations were issued to three substitute drivers. The state trooper who wrote the citations was not available for comment.
"We'll be sitting down with bus company representatives to discuss our contract with them and their obligations to the district," Hansen said. "We want to go through their policy for using substitute drivers to make sure that they are using people who have the proper certifications."
About 60 percent of the district's 2,000 students ride Ferguson buses, Hansen said.
School board member Martin H. Matthews said there will be a review.
"We're not talking about the fenders falling off the buses or other serious safety violations," Matthews said. "But drivers being cited for not having the proper certifications can be a concern in the long term because it might be an indication that there may be some sloppiness going on."
