Guidelines reviewed after driver keeps Elsipogtog girl on bus to ‘clean up mess’

An Elsipogtog mother isn’t satisfied with how the school district handled her concerns after she spoke out about her daughter’s treatment on a school bus earlier this year.

A bus driver kept Megan Augustine’s daughter Lexi on the bus longer than usual, driving her to another school to clean up inside the vehicle after she supposedly made a mess, instead of dropping her off with her peers.

Augustine said the incident was upsetting and confusing for Lexi, who was 11 at the time, and for her family. The Anglophone North School District said the driver’s actions were “within guidelines,” but the incident sparked an internal review.

As classes resume this week, the story raises questions about bus drivers’ authority when it comes to discipline for students.

The incident took place on the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 20. While dropping off students at Eleanor W. Graham Middle School in Rexton, the driver went on the intercom and “told Lexi to stay behind,” Augustine said.

“He did not let her know what it was about and closed the door and drove off, leaving the school my daughter attends.”

The driver then headed to Rexton Elementary School, where he also kept two students back – Lexi’s younger brother and another child – telling the three to clean up the bus.

The driver said they had made a mess by throwing things around, according to Augustine. After they tidied up the bus, they were dropped off at their schools, she said.

Augustine’s young daughter was confused about why she was being held back, saying she had only thrown a paper ball the previous Thursday.

In a Facebook post, Augustine said she’s not mad that her kids were “put in their place for throwing things” and acknowledged that they shouldn’t throw anything on a bus.

But she said the driver should have taken a different approach. “She had no idea what was going on,” Augustine said in the post.

After Augustine found out what happened from her daughter, she reached out to the school.

She learned the driver would remain on the same route the following day, and went on Facebook to speak out.

“Where did he get the right to take my daughter off school grounds after she already arrived at her destination?” she said in the post. She also said the driver had singled out her kids in the past.

Her post created a buzz, generating dozens of comments. Many people in the community also expressed outrage about the incident.

The following morning, she met with two school district administrators, and one of them said he was unhappy that she had spoken out on social media, according to Augustine.

The administrator told her, “I wish we could have had this discussion before you made that post,” she recalled.

In response to interview requests for this story, the Anglophone North School District provided an emailed statement saying the administration had taken steps to address the situation.

“This incident was looked into right away, and follow-ups were done with the bus driver, school and transportation team,” said Meredith Caissie, director of communications for the district.

“The transportation team did speak directly with the child’s mother to explain what had been done. The extended stay on the bus was to allow the student to clean up a mess they had made on the bus, and to ensure that it would not have to be done in front of the student’s peers,” she said.

“It was determined that the actions taken by the bus driver were within guidelines,” she said.

“However, this incident has created a review of those guidelines and prompted discussion around providing more detailed direction on how similar situations should be handled in the future.”

The statement didn’t address questions including what protocols or guidelines apply to bus drivers and how they discipline children.

Augustine said her understanding is that the school principal is responsible for the discipline, not bus drivers.

Principal Shaun Fletcher of Eleanor W. Graham Middle School didn’t respond to an interview request. Augustine said she hasn’t heard any more follow-up from the school district.

“I believe [the driver] taking my daughter off school premises is out of protocol, and that a paper ball shouldn’t warrant a school bus driver to take disciplinary action against a student when he could have gone to the principal,” she said.

In follow-up emails, Caissie added that “recommendations were made to the driver on how to better handle similar situations in the future. Those recommendations will be included in future bus driver training and refresher courses.”

The statements did not indicate whether those recommendations would be available to the public. “Bus drivers undergo extensive training, and follow-ups are done as needed and as situations arise,” she said.

She added that if parents have questions regarding their child’s transportation, they are encouraged to contact the school district’s director of transportation, Gaston Richard, at gaston.richard@nbed.nb.ca.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development didn’t respond to an interview request. The president of CUPE Local 1253, which represents bus drivers, declined to comment. The NB Media Co-op tried to reach the driver for comment through the union but received no response.

In June, the New Brunswick auditor general issued a report on pupil transportation that said the Department of Education “lacks oversight to ensure compliance with key requirements.”

Instances of non-compliance included drivers not meeting license requirements and overdue vehicle inspections. The audit also found the department lacked strategies for driver recruitment and retention.

With school in session again this week, Minister of Education Bill Hogan said in a statement that “the safety of students is our top priority.” The statement said, in part, that every route “has been assigned a school bus with a valid inspection sticker” and that all drivers are fully licensed.

Lisha Francis is a St. Thomas University student and a member of Elsipogtog First Nation. She wrote this article as part of JOUR 2033, Local Reporting, Global Media, in St. Thomas University’s Aotiitj program in Elsipogtog, with files from David Gordon Koch.