In a NEWSTALK 1010 exclusive, parent Dharminder Beniwal told Barb DiGiulio on the Night Side his kids aged 7 and 8 were dropped off an hour and 15 minutes later than usual last Wednesday because the driver twice paused the route and even steered the loaded bus back to school.
A letter from the administration at Mount Royal Public School shared with NEWSTALK 1010 explains the driver stopped the bus for 20 minutes, refusing to proceed until the child passengers quieted down. After 20 minutes the driver pulled away and returned to the school. After speaking with the school's vice principal the driver set back out on the route and stopped the bus again before continuing on.
A policy for Student Transportation of Peel Region (STOPR), the consortium that handles school transportation for students in Peel Region lays out that drivers "must always deliver student to their scheduled destination, even if they display unruly behaviour".
Concerned parents have since received an updated letter, including an apology, from the school's principal. It reads in part:
"... We apologize for the delay and are working together with STOPR and Parkview Transit to ensure a similar situation does not happen again. Today, your child's bus driver was accompanied by a senior representative of the bus company to ensure your child's bus route was completed in a timely and safe manner ..."
Following an investigation, Chris Harwood, President of Parkview Transit, defended the actions of the driver, while apologizing to the parents involved:
"After a full and complete investigation of the incident that occurred on a Mount Royal Public School bus run last week, we have concluded that our driver did exactly the right thing for the safety of the students under her care. The level of misbehavior on the bus was severe enough that our driver had to stop the bus and then return to the school, in compliance with our safety protocols. These guidelines are in place to enhance student safety by avoiding the risk of distracted driving. We apologize to the parents of the children who were inconvenienced by this delay. The safety of our passengers, employees and the community is our first and most important priority."