Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So DCPS can contract with sh*tty bus drivers that do no background checks… meanwhile parents practically have to be strip-searched and polygraphed to chaperone.

OMG! Right??

I'm a parent at a different DCPS elementary and this is completely terrifying. I let my kids go on the pumpkin patch field trip without a second thought under the naive assumption the buses would be road-safe and the drivers would have a CDL and no prior record of serious driving offenses. Now I see that faith was completely misplaced. Not sure what I'm going to do next year

+1

I have a pre-K kid at Murch, so in theory he goes on this trip next year. Although I imagine they might cancel it after this fiasco. There were reporters at the school this morning

I recently worked for an organization that trains teachers in DCPS schools. We didn't have any contact with students other than walking by them in the halls on the way to meetings. Every person in our organization, including the back-office people who never even came to the schools, had to complete fingerprinting and background checks, and we had to show proof of that to DCPS in order for our contract to be approved. Not sure how it's possible that this driver met that bar for the contract to be approved. People in the transportation department and in the contracting office are going to have some big problems with this one...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The driver had a PRIOR dwi, in the last 5-10 years! He shouldn’t have been allowed to drive a bus in the first place. And both the busses were unsafe and shouldn’t have been on the road. Someone really messed up here

https://wjla.com/amp/news/local/dcps-dc-bus-dwi-driver-charged-accident-murch-elementary-kids-field-trip-cox-farms-dmv-washington-district-school-classroom-education-troy-reynolds-bowser-dui-crime-virginia-nova-chantilly-bac-fairfax-county-police

Not saying that he shouldn’t be disqualified as a driver, but in the article I read it said “in Virginia” he wouldn’t be allowed to drive, but the company was in Maryland. Maybe the law is different in Maryland and needs to be updated.

If I have to pass a background check to volunteer at the school, and a bus driver can drive kindergartners around with a recent DWI, something is broken

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The driver had a PRIOR dwi, in the last 5-10 years! He shouldn’t have been allowed to drive a bus in the first place. And both the busses were unsafe and shouldn’t have been on the road. Someone really messed up here

https://wjla.com/amp/news/local/dcps-dc-bus-dwi-driver-charged-accident-murch-elementary-kids-field-trip-cox-farms-dmv-washington-district-school-classroom-education-troy-reynolds-bowser-dui-crime-virginia-nova-chantilly-bac-fairfax-county-police

Not saying that he shouldn’t be disqualified as a driver, but in the article I read it said “in Virginia” he wouldn’t be allowed to drive, but the company was in Maryland. Maybe the law is different in Maryland and needs to be updated.

My take is that he was already disqualified from driving in Virginia, no?

Anonymous wrote:So DCPS can contract with sh*tty bus drivers that do no background checks… meanwhile parents practically have to be strip-searched and polygraphed to chaperone.

This will change contractor requirements likely. The enhanced clearance was a result of a contractor not having background checks and a sexual misconduct charged at an elementary school of an employee. Also low paid.

Anonymous wrote:So DCPS can contract with sh*tty bus drivers that do no background checks… meanwhile parents practically have to be strip-searched and polygraphed to chaperone.

OMG! Right??

I'm a parent at a different DCPS elementary and this is completely terrifying. I let my kids go on the pumpkin patch field trip without a second thought under the naive assumption the buses would be road-safe and the drivers would have a CDL and no prior record of serious driving offenses. Now I see that faith was completely misplaced. Not sure what I'm going to do next year

Anonymous wrote:So DCPS can contract with sh*tty bus drivers that do no background checks… meanwhile parents practically have to be strip-searched and polygraphed to chaperone.

It's a contracted service, so the contractor gets their cut. With CDL holders and mechanics being in such high demand, my guess is that they didn't bid enough to properly staff drivers or mechanics.

So DCPS can contract with sh*tty bus drivers that do no background checks… meanwhile parents practically have to be strip-searched and polygraphed to chaperone.

Since no one was seriously injured I don’t feel too guilty for finding the glassy eyes mugshot pretty funny. The Virginia judge is going to have a field day.

Maybe find another bus charter company?

"This is Reynold’s second DWI charge, police said, and he’s being held on no bond.

Another bus driver on the trip was cited for not having a valid commercial driving license. And police said a third bus driver who came to assist after Reynolds’ arrest was cited for not having the right license to drive the bus."

https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2022/10/school-bus-driver-charged-with-dwi-while-transporting-kids-from-a-va-pumpkin-patch/

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.

If the kids were uninjured, what would be the claim? Honest question, not trying to make it seem like this wasn't terrible because it was. Just not sure what the lawsuit would assert.

As a parent of a Murch graduate I am so upset and shocked by this event. As a lawyer and DCPS parent I’m pissed at how the official DCPS news release fails to disclose the DUI. Their efforts to put a good spin on things really goes too far - I dare say the release is false. I sure hope the Washington Post does a big story on this one - including pointing out how DCPS is trying to hide the truth from parents. Parents have a right to know how serious this event was the next time they are asked to sign a field trip permission slip.

Anonymous wrote:The driver had a PRIOR dwi, in the last 5-10 years! He shouldn’t have been allowed to drive a bus in the first place. And both the busses were unsafe and shouldn’t have been on the road. Someone really messed up here

https://wjla.com/amp/news/local/dcps-dc-bus-dwi-driver-charged-accident-murch-elementary-kids-field-trip-cox-farms-dmv-washington-district-school-classroom-education-troy-reynolds-bowser-dui-crime-virginia-nova-chantilly-bac-fairfax-county-police

Not saying that he shouldn’t be disqualified as a driver, but in the article I read it said “in Virginia” he wouldn’t be allowed to drive, but the company was in Maryland. Maybe the law is different in Maryland and needs to be updated.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The news said that DCPS provided the buses. When my kid was at Murch the school never hired buses directly either.

Is Murch not DCPS? But of course however things work at Murch is obviously how it works everywhere else in DCPS.

Either way, it was a contractor and the contractor is paid to provide licensed drivers. Unless DCPS had prior knowledge that there were unlicensed drivers or those with prior DUIs, it’s on the contractor. Anytime I’ve hired contractors I’ve not asked to see the license and driving record of the workers. Maybe others do, but in my area of work it’s not standard. It’s literally why we hire contractors to do things rather than hire them as employees.

The way it usually works in DCPS for field trips is that the school orders the bus from a list of DCPS approved vendors.

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?

Curious whether you followed the news about the lack of a talent pool for these types of jobs over the summer?

What’s your point? We hire drinks now to drive our kids out of desperation? Pay them more and I’m sure the right people will take the job.

Yes. Pay them more. And teachers. And anyone charged with caring for children. But, this is not where we are at and it's getting worse not better.