D.C. Councilmembers are demanding answers from the public school system after an allegedly intoxicated bus driver crashed with students on board.
Councilmembers Mary Cheh and Christina Henderson said the Oct. 27 crash reveals quality control failures that could have led to a tragic outcome in a letter to D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee.
Forty-four kindergartners from Ben Murch Elementary School in Northwest were on a bus that hit a rock, blew a tire and ended up in a ditch while returning from a pumpkin patch in Fairfax County. Students bumped their heads, but Murch said there were no injuries.
Police cited 18 safety violations connected to three buses used for the trip, according to a letter.
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D.C. Public Schools parted ways with the charter bus company, but Henderson and Cheh’s letter says that is not enough.
“To simply discontinue use of the transportation company involved is not enough,” Christina Henderson said.
Troy Reynolds, 48, of Oxon Hill, Maryland, was driving the bus even though he did not have a proper license to drive a bus, Fairfax County police said. According to police, Reynolds’ license was revoked in Virginia from a prior DWI and suspended in Maryland.
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After the crash, officers smelled alcohol on Reynolds’ breath. He had a blood alcohol content of 0.20, more than twice the legal limit, police said.
Three buses involved in the pumpkin patch trip were taken out of service by police because of mechanical issues. None of the contract drivers had commercial driver’s licenses to drive those buses, police learned.
Councilmembers want answers from DCPS about vendor eligibility, background checks, license verification and partnering with departments of motor vehicles in D.C., Maryland and Virginia to access driving records.
They also asked DCPS to flag the bus company, Rome Charters, to city officials so other agencies don’t hire them.
“We acknowledge the difficulty that many firms across the country are having right now with recruiting drivers with commercial drivers’ licenses, but that is no excuse to continue to contract with companies with problematic performance records,” the letter said.
The council expects a response from DCPS by next Wednesday.
The chancellor of D.C. Public Schools met for over an hour Wednesday night with parents from Murch, but some left with more questions than answers.
“We come to a meeting with the chancellor who walks around and talks about not much and is asked direct basic questions that anybody in an official capacity should be able to answer, like, ‘Are there background checks for the bus driver?’” parent Phil Simon said.
The bus driver, Troy Reynolds, remains jailed until his next court appearance.
