KNOXVILLE — Following a tragic bus accident involving two Knox County School buses in December which killed two students and an aide, it has been found that five school bus drivers are not properly licensed. The Knox County Schools Transportation Department performed a preliminary review of the licensure status of all 464 school bus drivers working for its bus contractors.
The review shows that three bus drivers for the Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) system did not have the proper school bus licensure when the review was conducted in December. These drivers have now been removed from driving school buses for contractors serving the Knox County Schools. While each driver had a valid commercial driver’s license, their school bus endorsements were still only in the permit status. Therefore, they had been driving school buses for our contractors without the appropriate licensure to do so.
Miscommunication with the Transportation Department allowed two of these drivers to drive school buses for contractors on Tuesday, January 6th. These two drivers had recently successfully completed the road test required by the Tennessee Department of Transportation, so that they now possess a full school bus endorsement. Therefore, these two drivers were actually properly licensed to drive school buses on Tuesday. “However, said School Superintendent James McIntyre, “those drivers should have been off the road until the investigation was completed and consequences determined for the licensure deficiencies for both the drivers and the contractors.”
“These licensure issues are serious deficiencies, and we have placed the contracts under review for each of the contractors with improperly licensed drivers, and we will be terminating the service agreements for the routes in question effective in the next school year.”
The review shows that three bus drivers for the Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) system did not have the proper school bus licensure when the review was conducted in December. These drivers have now been removed from driving school buses for contractors serving the Knox County Schools. While each driver had a valid commercial driver’s license, their school bus endorsements were still only in the permit status. Therefore, they had been driving school buses for our contractors without the appropriate licensure to do so.
Miscommunication with the Transportation Department allowed two of these drivers to drive school buses for contractors on Tuesday, January 6th. These two drivers had recently successfully completed the road test required by the Tennessee Department of Transportation, so that they now possess a full school bus endorsement. Therefore, these two drivers were actually properly licensed to drive school buses on Tuesday. “However, said School Superintendent James McIntyre, “those drivers should have been off the road until the investigation was completed and consequences determined for the licensure deficiencies for both the drivers and the contractors.”
“These licensure issues are serious deficiencies, and we have placed the contracts under review for each of the contractors with improperly licensed drivers, and we will be terminating the service agreements for the routes in question effective in the next school year.”
No comments:
Post a Comment