Parents have questions after local school bus driver picked up ‘individual,’ took him to high school

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. — Parents in the Hempfield Area School District have several questions after a bus driver picked someone up who was walking along Route 136 and dropped him off at the high school with the rest of the students.

“Where did they go?” asked one parent. “What were their intentions? Who made this decision that it’s okay to pick somebody up on the side of the road and not know anything about them?”

On Wednesday morning, while taking high school students to school, the driver of Bus 65 made that decision. The Hempfield Area School District sent out this message to parents:

“Morning bus 65 picked up an individual who was walking alongside route 136 this morning and who stated that he was a student. The driver contacted the bus garage to inform them of the situation and received permission to pick up the individual. Upon arriving at the high school, the individual immediately exited the bus and left the school grounds. The school police investigated the situation to ensure the individual was no longer on school grounds. The district is continuing to investigate the situation to assure that this does not occur again and to ensure the safety of all students.”

A spokesperson with the bus company, First Student, shared this brief statement:

“While it was our driver’s intent to help a student that may have missed their bus, the driver did not follow our established procedures. The driver will be immediately retrained on proper procedures in conjunction with our ongoing internal investigation.”

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