First Student under fire for alleged incident

First Student, the company that handles bus transportation for the Evangeline Parish school system, got an earful Wednesday night, May 20, when a parent and school board member Wanda Skinner brought up complaints about a bus driver.
Tiffany Allison, mother of two students in Mamou, approached the school board Wednesday night and claimed that both of her children were involved in incidents with the same bus driver. She claimed her oldest, a 10-year-old, had been slapped by the bus driver. She said she contacted Lance Enkey with First Student and complained. However, Enkey stated that after reviewing video of four different camera angles, there was no evidence or proof that an incident occurred, despite claims of witnesses. Enkey said he then took the video to the principal of the school the students attend and reviewed the video again. Again, neither he nor the principal could find anything on the video that indicated the accusations were true.
Allison said in another incident, this time involving her younger, seven-year-old son, he was dropped off a mile-and-a-half away from home. Enkey stated this incident was verified and the bus driver was sent home without pay for a day-and-a-half. Enkey also stated the driver is no longer operating a bus in this parish.
School board member Wanda Skinner told Enkey that it is First Student’s responsibility to ensure the safety of students while they are being transported on buses, but that First Student was not doing well enough in that respect.
Allison claims her older son is now scared to get on the bus and that she has had to transport him to and from school herself.
Despite claims from Enkey that the video does not show any evidence of a slapping incident, Skinner chastised him and First Student for what she believes was a failure to properly respond to these claims. She said it took him too long to review the video and the video angles failed to show the alleged incident.
In other business, the board adopted millage rates for 2015. All millages, according to Assistant Superintendent Darwan Lazard, are identical to last year with the exception of one millage for the Basile School District VII bond. Since this bond has been paid, he said that millage has been appeased and will not be present on residents’ property taxes this year.
The board also committed $20 toward the attendance of a Pine Prairie High School student to the FBLA Leadership Conference in Chicago, Illinois. Lelia Deville will be attending the conference from June 26, to July 3. The board, as they do with all students who qualify to attend these types of conferences and represent the area they’re from, agreed to assist Deville with a total of $200 to spend toward travel and accommodation expenses.