Corbin bus driver, suspended for hitting street signs, won’t return to job

A Corbin Independent School District bus driver who was suspended after striking two street signs on his route the first day of school Aug. 10 won’t be returning his job.

Kirk Bodenweiser still has several days to appeal a decision by Corbin Schools Superintendent Ed McNeel regarding his future, but his wife Melinda said Tuesday her husband doesn’t plan to drive a bus anymore for the district.

"He enjoyed the kids when he was driving and he enjoyed the people he worked with," Melinda Bodenweiser said. "Sometimes you just go with the decisions that are made."

Kirk Bodenweiser was suspended by McNeel Aug. 10 after he experienced difficulty making two turns on his route in south Corbin, striking a pair of street signs on 16th Street. Nearly 25 students were on board the bus at the time. They were picked up by another bus and taken the Corbin Primary School where they were picked up by their parents.

McNeel said Bodenweiser wasn’t simply suspended from duty because of hitting the traffic signs, but also because he deviated from the prescribed route. He was cited for leaving the scene of an accident by Corbin Police Officer Robbie Hodge. As of press time, the citation had not yet been received by clerks in the Whitley District Court office in Corbin.

Melinda Bodenweiser said Tuesday that several factors contributed to her husband’s problems on Aug. 10. She said he had just worked a 15-hour shift on another job and that neither he, nor the monitor riding on the bus with him had a cell phone that worked at the time with which to call for help or report the accident.

Also, she said her husband’s bus was crowded with around 80 kids – more than expected.

"There shouldn’t have been more than 60. He was just trying to get them all back to their homes but he had 20 kids extra. He didn’t know where they were supposed to go," she said. "There was just a whole bunch of weird stuff happening."

The bus Bodenweiser was driving, Bus No. 54, is one of five that only serve Corbin Primary School students this year. Administrators made the decision to have busses dedicated to transporting only Primary School students to reduce co-mingling with older children from other schools.

Corbin Schools Director of Transportation, Josh VanNorstran, said Tuesday he is unsure exactly how many students were riding the bus Aug. 10. He did not firmly rule out the possibility that the bus was exceeding its occupancy capacity, but said officials always do their best to make kids as comfortable as possible. He also noted that the busses have different capacity limits.

"There are some buses that have more kids that others. We try to even things out, but to say there were X number of kids on a certain bus on this day, I don’t know," he said. "We are constantly working to achieve safety and efficiency. Safety is the bottom line when you are dealing with children."

VanNorstran said he was performing a count Tuesday of the number of students riding each bus at the Primary School. Since Aug. 10, he said some "drop offs" have been removed from Bus. No. 54’s route to lighten its load.

"I think the new route system is going to be a big positive once we get everything lined out," VanNorstran said.

McNeel said he informed Bodenweiser last Friday of his decision regarding the incident, but he would not go into specifics.

"I told him what I think I’m going to do and he has time to appeal that," McNeel said. "Until that time is up I really can’t say too much about it."

Bodenweiser was suspended for 10 days without pay last April after slapping an eight-year-old student who allegedly poked him in the eye. Prior to moving to Corbin, he drove a school bus for three and a half years in Florida.