Steering clear of bad drivers

In Jacksonville, Fla., a suspected serial killer drove children to and from school for several weeks before his arrest last June.

A Milwaukee bus driver was charged with felony child abuse and disorderly conduct in May for hitting a 9-year-old boy with Down syndrome.

In Kansas City, Mo., a middle school boy was kicked off a bus last October and left to walk two miles home after the driver mistook him for another student.

It doesn't end there. The past few years have been filled with horror stories from across the nation -- bus drivers assaulting students; sex offenders hired as bus drivers; bus drivers kidnapping students.

So how do Southeast Missouri parents know that the men and women charged with transporting their children to and from school every day are trustworthy?

Officials in the Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City school districts all say the extensive background checks and other requirements Missouri bus drivers are subject to ensure that they're reliable.

"Someone who can pass these searches has a good record and can be considered a safe driver," said Mark Bowles, superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District. "We do a really good check on those folks, which I'm thankful for, because my kids occasionally ride the bus as well."

In 2003, the Missouri Legislature implemented a law that changed the way schools handle background checks after a state audit found that children were being transported by bus drivers with criminal histories and invalid permits.

The law, which was Senate Bill 543, requires anyone applying for a school bus driver permit to submit two sets of fingerprints to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The first is used to search for a state criminal history, and the other is forwarded to the FBI for a nationwide search.

"Bus drivers with criminal convictions haven't been a major concern in Missouri. But if there's even one, that's one too many," said Tom Quinn, director of school governance with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Every three years a bus driver's permit must be renewed, and a new background check is done at that time.

Too strict?

Quinn and other state officials are concerned that the requirements to become a driver may deter some people from pursuing the role.

"A lot is required to be a bus driver now," Quinn said. "You have to jump through a few hoops to drive a bus with 40 kids screaming behind you. If it's too complicated, people who want to drive might say the heck with it. We don't want that to happen."

The state audit, which was published by state Auditor Claire McCaskill's office in April, found that in a sample of 21,000 bus drivers from across the state, 386 had substantiated complaints of child abuse or neglect. Of those 386, sixty also had criminal convictions that should have prevented them from driving a school bus.

Before even training potential bus drivers, local schools require criminal background checks for crimes such as prostitution, driving while intoxicated and child molestation or being on parole.

"Anything with children is a red flag," said Carol Woods, the director of transportation for the Jackson School District.

School districts in Jackson, Cape Girardeau and Scott City have not turned up anything in bus driver background checks in the past five years that would prevent someone from being hired.

Even so, the Cape Girardeau School District has experienced a shortage of drivers in the past few years.

"All of the requirements are definitely making it harder to find drivers," said Stacy Geary, the contract manager with First Student Inc., the bus service Cape Girardeau schools use. "Plus, most of these people don't work 40 hours a week and they aren't paid very well."

First Student uses a search system to verify the credibility of their drivers that includes a county criminal search, driving history checks, sending fingerprints to the highway patrol and FBI, checking registered sex offender lists and drug and alcohol testing.

If anything turns up, that applicant is automatically discarded, Geary said.

"Parents have to be confident that their children are safe getting on a school bus, so we really make sure we have the right caliber people," she said.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128