Howell High School Bus Driver Makes Stop At Home, Now Barred

HOWELL, NJ — A driver for Jay's Bus Service, contracted for the Freehold Regional High School District, won't be driving for the district anymore after he stopped the bus at his home to pick up a drop-off roster, the district said.

The district has filed a Report of Students Left Unattended with the state, and this driver has been barred from driving Freehold Regional students, said district spokesperson Rebecca Policastro on Wednesday.

"He was not one of our drivers," she said, "so I cannot speak to his current employment status. We barred him from covering runs in the district."

The name of the driver was not released by the district.

She explained the series of events:

On Monday afternoon, the driver, employed by Jay’s Bus Service based in Lakewood, picked up students at Howell High School.

The driver apparently realized he did not have the roster that tells him where the bus stops are located and proceeded to return to his home to retrieve it.

The bus was parked outside the driver’s home for approximately three minutes and no students left the bus during that time, she said.

The driver then proceeded to return to the original route and dropped students off at their designated bus stops.

District officials were notified of the situation as students were being dropped off at their bus stops and the run was being completed.

The district immediately contacted Jay’s and the driver was halted, but the students from Howell High School were all dropped off by this time, said Policastro.

A report on News 12 New Jersey quoted a Howell family whose daughter said students were standing up in their seats, taking videos and were waiting while the engine was running and the door open. Her father said it was "bad judgment" on the driver's part, and that someone could have driven away with the bus with the students on it.