Bus on Murch field trip crashes, kids hurt, bus driver charged with DUI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS just suspended all field trips.

Not surprising. DCPS doesn't own it's own bus fleet and has to rely on the contractors. They probably want to review every transport contract and the drivers' qualifications. It's clear that no one was being background checked at this transport company. None of the drivers on the trip had a CDL!

This is bad, bad, bad. Heads better roll at DCPS Central Office too. Whomever is handling transport logistics and contracts is asleep at the wheel. The Central Office did zero due diligence.

Or, you know, whole live intact bodies could roll on straight into some classrooms where they are so much more needed than in Central?

[Anonymous]

Wow this makes me sick. My kid just went on that pumpkin farm trip a few weeks ago and I had to silence the part of me who didn't want her to ride the bus (she's tiny, in kindergarten) because I thought I was being overprotective. Next time I'll listen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In a school community where 75% of the kids have at least one lawyer parent, those lawsuits are going to be pouring in.

I remember the three page DCPS permission slip we had to sig for these trips. We had to waive a cause of action for actual “negligence”. I couldn’t believe my eyes and would always cross it out and initial that section.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the kids had fun at the police academy and in the Fairfax County busses. Thanks Fairfax for getting our DC kids home safe! No thanks DCPS for likely ruining field trips for a long time …

I have heard that the kids thought it was the greatest day. Two field trips in one day!! And getting to stay up late!! What could be more fun?

Miserable experience for the parents though. Really miserable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a school community where 75% of the kids have at least one lawyer parent, those lawsuits are going to be pouring in.

I remember the three page DCPS permission slip we had to sig for these trips. We had to waive a cause of action for actual “negligence”. I couldn’t believe my eyes and would always cross it out and initial that section.

I've signed permissions slips with "I do not agree to any of the above" and no one has said anything. I've always wondered what would happen if there was an incident and someone attorney was reviewing the permission slips to make sure they were all accounted for.

[Anonymous]

Want to bet that bus company is owned by someone in the central office’s relative?

[Anonymous]

Wait, DCPS cancelled all field trips? Even walking/metro?

[Anonymous]

From the article:
FOX 5’s Melanie Alnwick discovered that after police arrived they found Reynolds did not have a commercial driver’s license and that he had a prior DWI charge. Two additional buses that stopped along with the bus Reynolds was driving were taken out of service after safety violations were found. The drivers of those buses also did not have their commercial driver’s licenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not going to agree with the assertion that the principal is outstanding.

I do agree that the letter was definitely written by the central office (the language used was not how he speaks/writes). I am sure he was not allowed to freely communicate.

I am the PP of the email complaint and I also like Mr. C a lot. I agree that DCPS central office probably wrote the misleading email.

Suspending all field trips seems heavy-handed and unlikely to address the actual problem (i.e., that whoever is responsible for vetting the contractors isn't doing their job).

But a response that does nothing to address the problem and mostly hurts the kids is par for the course from DCPS

I'd agree that suspending field trips on the Metro is excessive, but suspending field trips on contracted busses until the process for vetting contractors is reviewed and fixed seems like the the only option. If the process is broken, there's no way to fix that that isn't going to deprive kids of field trips for a while. "Hurting kids" in that way is unavoidable here.

I agree that they need to stop using contracted busses until they have done a full review of how the vet contractors (and hopefully fire whoever was responsible for it). I have no faith that they will actually do that review, though. I think they will probably just suspend the field trips forever so they don't have to worry about it anymore, bc that's the easiest thing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Want to bet that bus company is owned by someone in the central office’s relative?

Bingo!

[Anonymous]

Honestly, why not just do most field trips by metro? DC is full of great things you can access via metro, walking, or other forms of public transportation:

Zoo via metro
Smithsonians/Mall/monuments via metro
Kingman Island/Fields at RFK via metro and streetcar
Rock Creek Park via metro
Kennedy Center via metro

And so on. I get that it's good for kids to get out of the city but is this compulsory Cox Farms trip the right way to do it? Especially when everyone in DC does the same trip around the same time every year?

I mean ideally we'd have buses that had drivers who were properly licensed and not drunk, but if that's too expensive there is no reason kids can't still do field trips and experience new things outside their neighborhood and comfort zone without putting them at risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not going to agree with the assertion that the principal is outstanding.

I do agree that the letter was definitely written by the central office (the language used was not how he speaks/writes). I am sure he was not allowed to freely communicate.

I am the PP of the email complaint and I also like Mr. C a lot. I agree that DCPS central office probably wrote the misleading email.

Suspending all field trips seems heavy-handed and unlikely to address the actual problem (i.e., that whoever is responsible for vetting the contractors isn't doing their job).

But a response that does nothing to address the problem and mostly hurts the kids is par for the course from DCPS

I'd agree that suspending field trips on the Metro is excessive, but suspending field trips on contracted busses until the process for vetting contractors is reviewed and fixed seems like the the only option. If the process is broken, there's no way to fix that that isn't going to deprive kids of field trips for a while. "Hurting kids" in that way is unavoidable here.

I agree that they need to stop using contracted busses until they have done a full review of how the vet contractors (and hopefully fire whoever was responsible for it). I have no faith that they will actually do that review, though. I think they will probably just suspend the field trips forever so they don't have to worry about it anymore, bc that's the easiest thing

I agree this is what will happen and it's ridiculous because these kids just started having field trips again after school closures.

Schools in this city are a mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just heard that the third bus that came to pick up the kids was not operational and NONE of the drivers had a CDL license. DCPS heads need to roll. Who hired these fools?

Rome Charters LLC

If the school organized the trip themselves, they pick the company they hire for bus service. So Murch very well could have picked the company.

Not how it works. DCPS provided the buses.

Our ES hires the bus company directly — or at least they did a few years back. Has anything changed?

Your ES is likely hiring from a list of centrally approved vendors with pre-negotiated contract pricing. Rome Charters is (was?) a DCPS approved vendor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Want to bet that bus company is owned by someone in the central office’s relative?

Bingo!

And this is why I hope the Murch parents and teachers file suit. I truly believe that is the only way we will get transparency about not only this incident but the entire rotten system. File today parents!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, DCPS cancelled all field trips? Even walking/metro?

No one posted a source or a link. I work at a DCPS and I haven't heard about this.