WASHINGTON — A man with a criminal record was allowed to drive a D.C. school bus for a short time before he was fired.
D.C.’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education says the hiring was the result of “an egregious lapse in procedure” by someone in their human resources department. That HR staffer has also been fired.
In a statement, OSSE said a man was assigned to temporarily drive a school bus for five days between March 15 and March 21, despite the fact that he did not have proper driving credentials and had been convicted of attempted misdemeanor sexual assault.
OSSE did not release details of the bus route, but it said families of the 22 students who rode with him have been notified in writing.
OSSE and the D.C. police are investigating, but OSSE said that so far there is no reason to believe the driver had inappropriate contact with students.
The statement adds, “We deeply regret this unfortunate incident and are taking immediate corrective actions to ensure this will never occur in the future.”
Those actions include developing more thorough procedures to ensure employees follow policies, and auditing records from the past year to make sure no other Division of Student Transportation employees have been improperly hired.
