Rock Hill schools investigate after mom complains of ‘out of control’ school bus ride

A Rock Hill parent’s Facebook post that describes an “out of control” school bus ride has many parents concerned, though the school district says not all allegations are true.

Ashley Young posted on the social media platform Wednesday about an incident she said “put every child’s life in danger” on her daughter’s school bus.

Young describes children crying and comforting each other after a harrowing trip with a substitute driver. The bus “almost flipped” and was “driving off the sides of the road as well as hitting curves,” according to Young’s post.

Other parents commented on the post, sharing similar concerns.

Mychal Frost, spokesperson for the Rock Hill School District, confirmed there were complaints from parents.

“We are and have looked into it, and have spoken to several parents who have expressed concern,” he said. “We have addressed those concerns and feel that the issue has been resolved.”

Frost said there is video equipment on district school buses, and there is video from the incident brought up by parents.

The video is for internal use, he said, and the district doesn’t intend to make it available to parents.

Frost didn’t say what action, if any, was or may be taken. He said video was reviewed by district leaders in addressing parent complaints.

“The allegations being made are not entirely correct, and the video we have confirms this,” Frost said.

The bus ride happened Tuesday afternoon.

On Thursday morning, Young said her 7-year-old daughter still isn’t comfortable riding the bus. Young said the bus was an hour late coming home on Tuesday and a half hour late on Wednesday. Her daughter rode the bus Wednesday afternoon, Young said, after being told not to get on it if the same driver from Tuesday was behind the wheel.

“She got off the bus screaming,” Young said, referring to her daughter after the Tuesday bus ride. “When the bus pulled up, other children were screaming as well. She was just shaking. I couldn’t get her to calm down.”

Young lives on the Catawba Indian Reservation. Her daughter, a second-grader, rides bus 63. The bus was bringing children home from Independence Elementary School.

Young said she wants to see the video of what happened. A parent, commenting on the Facebook post, included what appears to be a message from the district transportation director stating that, on video, there were “no signs of the driver being reckless.”

That post does mention children who were “loud and screaming,” making it a challenge to get the children home.

Young said she has been contacted by several parents since her post, and has heard similar accounts from each. She doesn’t understand why so many children were distraught if nothing out of the ordinary happened on the bus. She wants the district to allow parents to see the video.

“I find that unbelievable,” she said. “I can’t believe that every child would have come home in that condition. It says they were screaming. Why were they screaming?”

Young said she didn’t speak with the driver on Tuesday, as the bus left, before she realized something may have happened on the ride home. There was a different driver on Wednesday, she said.

Krissy Schram has a third-grader who was riding the bus. Schram’s daughter Lexi, 8, told her mother she was trying to comfort friends.

“My daughter told me when she got off the bus that they almost got in a crash twice,” Schram said. “She wasn’t scared. She was just in shock about it.”

Schram said the driver approached, said he had to turn around before dropping off her child and left.

“It took him 20 minutes to turn around,” she said. “He dropped them off so fast and sped off.”

Schram, too, said there were children crying. She asked her daughter why.

“She said, I remember kids saying they were scared for their life,” Schram said.

Her daughter hasn’t had issues riding the bus again, but with a different driver. Schram said other students have. Parents reached out to the school directly, she said, and expect the district to handle it.

“She said, ‘I hope that never happens again,’” Schram said of her daughter’s account. “I said, it won’t.”

This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 11:24 AM.