WASHINGTON — School bus drivers can be fired for texting behind the wheel under a policy change within Prince George’s County Public Schools.
Until now, drivers in the school system could not be terminated for texting while driving. But after video recently surfaced showing one woman texting with students on her bus, school officials decided to make a change.
“We realized that parents had some questions, and we want to assure parents that students are safe,” Prince George’s County Public Schools spokeswoman Sherrie Johnson said in an interview with NBC Washington.
The school system added an amendment to its transportation discipline handbook, classifying “texting while driving students” as “misuse of a cellphone on a bus,” NBC Washington reports.
If caught, drivers can now be recommended for suspension, demotion or termination.
“That new language has been distributed to the bus drivers, so they all are aware of it,” Johnson told NBC Washington.
Johnson says updated handbooks reflecting the new policy will be distributed early next year.
The video that prompted the change, recorded by a student on a cellphone, shows the bus driver texting while driving students to James Madison Middle School in Upper Marlboro. Johnson tells NBC Washington the woman has been disciplined, but she will remain with the school system as a driver.
