Bus driver tells his side of slapping incident

Despite previously published reports that a Corbin bus driver has been suspended without pay following an incident on a school bus last week, the News Journal has learned that was in fact suspended with pay.

The incident in question centers around a driver who admittedly struck a first-grade student, but only after the student made contact with the driver first.

The incident was one of two last week, the other involving a driver who left a child unattended on a school bus.
While he was willing to speak of the matter on the condition that he remain unnamed until the conclusion of an investigation by the school district, the driver was adamant in saying that he wants to remain a bus driver for the Corbin School District, adding that from the moment the incident happened, he wished it never had.

 "From the very instant, I regretted that I happened," he said. "I certainly meant no harm to the boy and in hindsight, I shouldn’t have touched him at all."

Prior to the incident, the driver said the students were in the process of being reloaded following a bus evacuation drill. The driver went on to explain that the kids were "all wound up," and the child involved was clowning around and kidding with another child when he (driver) was poked in the face and, triggering his reaction.

Add to the fact that the child involved had experienced disciplinary troubles earlier in the year, the possibility of trouble was looming from the start.

"You don’t want to judge kids, but he has been sitting in the front seat from the start of the year, per Mr. Smith (Corbin Transportation Director, Thom Smith)," the driver said. "Considering he is a larger kid and he has had problems in the past, I simply reacted.

"It was really just a reflex-type reaction where I slapped his hand away as he poked me and slapped him on the cheek," the driver said. "I am not really sure what exactly was said and what was going on, but he poked me in the face and I am not used to that."

Following the incident, the driver said he told the child he would like to speak to the boys’ mother when they arrived at his stop, at which point the child darted off the bus to retrieve a parent.

"I knew he was going to tell what had happened, so I wanted to tell exactly what the situation was and tell my side," he said.

"Again, I apologized and I wished it hadn’t happened, but it did and you have to deal with it."

Though he has only been with the Corbin School System for less than a year, the driver has driven a school bus for an additional three years after his retirement in Florida, during which he said he had no incidents like the one he had last week.

"Down there, we had cameras and monitors on the buses, so it was a little different," he said. "I think adding those things or at least considering them would help the district because there are times when I have up to 65 children on the bus and that’s just too much for one person to control.

"But, odds are if you can get them to stay in there seats, they will stay out of trouble," he added. "That’s what you hope for anyway."

The driver also talked about his three children and one grandchild, saying that as a grandfather it was his nature to protect children as opposed to causing harm to them.

"We have three grown kids and one grandchild and as a parent, you develop a sense of protecting kids," he said. "As a grandparent, that sense heightens and the protective wall you have for kids gets even bigger.

"I love the kids," he said. "You get attached to them and most of them are really good kids and very likeable kids. The boy involved is a really likeable kid.

"He really never meant any harm to anyone and really he is just a typical first grade kid and he gets restless like any of the kids do," he added. "Like I said, the kids were a bit wound up from the Spring weather and from a recent bus drill we had just completed."

The News Journal did receive a copy of a statement released by Assistant Superintendent Darrell Tremaine, stating that the administration is aware of the bus incidents in question. The statement goes on to say that "these are personnel actions and are under investigation by the superintendent. The Board is not allowed to comment on either situation because they are personnel issues."

After submitting an Open Records Request regarding documents pertaining to the incidents, the news Journal received a response from the board’s attorney, Bob Hammons, citing KRS 61.78 (1), (a), (h), (i), (j), (k) and (l) as reason for respectfully denying the request.

The response states that the records requested contain information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof, at this time, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. It goes on to state that the requested records contain information concerning students and their parents and employees of the District who have not consented in writing or otherwise to the release of any information by the District.

The News Journal submitted its request on Monday and received a response Tuesday afternoon from Tremaine.