RED SPRINGS — The policy for hiring substitute bus drivers is under review by the Public Schools of Robeson County following the firing of a driver who made “very poor decisions” during an elementary school route, a school official said Wednesday.
Walter Jackson, assistant superintendent for the school system’s Transportation and Human Resources departments, said that he was glad no one was injured during the Tuesday afternoon bus ride from Peterson Elementary School. He said the name of the driver, who had worked for the school for one month, could not be released because of privacy laws.
Red Springs resident Ella Pierce, whose granddaughter was on the bus, called The Robesonian to say that she felt her granddaughter was in danger during the route. She told the newspaper that when the students became rowdy, the bus driver stopped the bus and ordered the children to get off, causing the completion of the route to be delayed.
She said the delay caused her to worry that the bus might have been in an accident.
“The school system should hold a program at the beginning of the school year so parents can meet the drivers and learn about their background,” Pierce said this morning. “We don’t know the drivers … . We’re putting our kids in the hands of the schools and we expect that they will be safe.”
According to Tasha Oxendine, a spokesperson for the Public Schools of Robeson County, all the students had been safely dropped off at their homes by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation,” Jackson said, “and it has been dealt with. We want to make sure these subs are really ready to get on these buses and make correct decisions.”
Raymond Cummings, the system’s director of Transportation, said he was out of town on Wednesday attending a bus drivers’ rodeo in Fayetteville and was not involved in any administrative action taken.









