Buses wait for their precious cargo at Crocker Farm SchoolDetails are sketchy at the moment but we do know that an Amherst Middle School child was struck by a vehicle upon exiting a school bus near the Fort River School on South East Street at approximately 2:47 pm Friday.
Amherst police and fire personnel swiftly made the scene and the child was taken to Bay State Medical in Springfield as opposed to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton (usually indicating serious injury, but in this case simply precautionary).
Amherst School Superintendent Maria Geryk sent me this statement early Friday evening.
MassLive reports
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UPDATE (Saturday 7:15 pm)
I had forgotten that I broke the story three-and-a-half years ago about the DA finding no criminal negligence with the bus driver in that stunningly sad story of a child dying under the wheels of an Amherst school bus. Although that horrific scenario flashed through my mind instantly yesterday when I first heard dispatch vectoring emergency personnel to S. E. Street for what was originally reported as a bus hitting a child.
61 comments:
Hope Baystate was just a precaution and all is ok. Worst nightmare for sure!
Yes, the AFD takes no chances.
I just updated the original post with a link to Patrick Johnson's fine up-to-the-minute reporting, and it sounds like the injury is not all that serious.
We can exhale now.
Yes, counselors. They will be doing about as much good as arsonists in a tinder dry woods.
The half of the school cadre that isn't already in SPED can wind up there as the result of this trauma. Oh, boy, happy days await.
Gotta love Maria G...
And so Ed, the answer is NOT to provide counselors? What exactly is your problem?
Did the bus driver have the flashing lights on? Eons ago, when I was a school bus driver, drivers (often parents) ignored the lights and went around the bus.
In fact, when my kids were young, their school bus was hit (no injuries). When asked about it, the driver in the passenger car said, "I didn't see it." Pretty hard to miss tons of big yaller bus!
Reports I'm getting say the lights were indeed on, and the impatient driver simply went around the bus.
Eons ago, when I was a school bus driver, drivers (often parents) ignored the lights and went around the bus.
There was a time when police officers would follow school buses for that very reason. It used to be a fairly serious offense as well.
BTW, providing counselors is not the answer. Look at how we are shifting what used to be a parental responsibility to the schools. Children now look to the schools for security and protection, not their parents.
The Maria G approach is to make the parents irrelevant and maybe they now are.
No one is forced to go see the counselors. The school system is simply making them available if anyone wants to use them. The school is not usurping parental rights or parenting. If the parents don't want their kids to see the counselor then they do something else on Saturday morning.
If the schools did not offer counseling people would be complaining about that.
I drove a school bus for two years when I was getting my teaching certificate. This was on a two-lane road that didn't have a curb and had a gravel shoulder that served as a sidewalk.
I now know how I was able to do this and why I don't know how I knew, but one afternoon I instinctively lunged for the third grader in the process of getting off my bus and fortunately caught her -- essentially bouncing her off the floor in the process.
I can see it now, her landing on the floor, one leg out straight, a white little girl's sock and sneaker on a foot pointing out the open door, and the blur and roar of a large car flashing by just beyond.
I know that the WeHateEd brigade will use this to further defame me, and
I don't want to hurt anyone, particularly a child, but there was no time for anything else. And her father let it be known that he thought I had done the right thing and appreciated it.
It turned out that a high school student was driving through town showing off. She had passed my stopped bus on the shoulder and was going probably 30 MPH in hopes I wouldn't be able to get her plate number.
And the ultimate irony, the girl she had almost hit was her cousin.
Respectfully Larry, I am more worried about someone who flies by a stopped school bus than someone who has a .08 BAC and is driving in a more or less competent manner. That little girl would have died that day, I have no doubt of it.
Oh Ed, you are my hero!
Hmmm....I am a tad bit confused, channel 40 reported that the child was an elementary school student, and now MG is saying that the student was a Middle School Student. In addition, the times of the accident have been changing from from 2:34pm, to your post of 2:45pm... South East Street in front of the Fort River School....where exactly is the bus stop located? I know of NO bus stops on South East St. same side of school, only one across on the parallel street where the old East Street school was located. A PVTA bus stop does not qualify for a School bus stop. More questions need answers please.
Channel 40 is wrong. At that time of day all ES students are still in school. It was a Middle School student getting off the bus at a bus stop near Fort River ES. Not sure what the correct time is. 2:34 or 2:45. Me thinks a difference of 11 minutes does not a conspiracy make!
Just because you don't know of any bus stops in front of Fort River School does not mean there are no bus stops there.
Oh Ed, you are my hero!
That, children, is why I didn't tell the story the first time.
And which is worse: someone pissing on your lawn or someone plastering your child all over the pavement? I am being graphic for a reason.
The urine on your lawn will be gone with the first rainstorm, your child won't be coming back from the morgue.
I sometimes thing people have their priorities just a little bit off...
Larry, no matter how many twists Maria G puts into this, even if it winds up with her twisting in the wind herself, if people are passing stopped school buses in that town with anywhere near the frequency I think they are, the APD needs to worry about things which can be fatal and not just annoying -- they need to deal a little bit less with noise ordinances and a lot more with stopping for a school bus.
Which is worse, urine on your lawn or a dead child? (PLEASE tell me that it is the dead child -- that you folk still can understand this concept.)
Last year APD participated in "Operation Yellow Blitz," a statewide initiative to check on bus safety.
In Amherst they had zero violations.
I for the life of me cannot figure out how Maria Geryk is to blame for this accident. Ed, give it a rest already.
"Just because you don't know of any bus stops in front of Fort River School does not mean there are no bus stops there."
My point being, if there is a bus stop on that road on the side of the elementary school, BAD choice! That road is busy and dangerous during school hours, HENCE, it should be addressed and changed for the safety of the children.
"Just because you don't know of any bus stops in front of Fort River School does not mean there are no bus stops there."
Shouldn't....every bus stop be clearly marked and be known to the public, for safety reasons? And WHY has no situation, ticket or charges been levied? Is a child life only worth a $ 250.00 ticket? Who was the driver of the vehicle who ran the flashing reds on the bus? Let us know who the victim is, what age....and why being dropped or picked up on that road? and where is the bus stop sign on East Street?
" At that time of day all ES students are still in school. It was a Middle School student getting off the bus at a bus stop near Fort River ES. Not sure what the correct time is. 2:34 or 2:45. Me thinks a difference of 11 minutes does not a conspiracy make!"
Excuse me, but there is a protocol for drivers to follow, not only the rules of the road, but also their schedules for drop off and pick up....
So, yes, I do question this and only ask honest answers. I am not pointing fingers or conspiracy, just simply want the facts and explanation as to why this has happened, there is a lot to be learned from this unfortunate incident to hopefully prevent it again, if people are willing to tell the truth and address it. Just saying.
Was it a Fort River teacher who hit that child?
Anyone?
"I for the life of me cannot figure out how Maria Geryk is to blame for this accident. Ed, give it a rest already."
I think if anyone would be to blame for anything it would be Peter Crouse.
He's the school's transportation director.
Ask him where the mystery stop is located.
Is any counseling being offered to the drivers at the school? Do any of you realize how traumatizing this is to a driver or their co workers?
How is it anyones fault but the drivers?
And we think its a fort river teacher why? And why the questions about the bys stop? I don't care where the stop is- drivers must stop. Seems to me all these other questions are immaterial. A driver did not stoo and a middle schooler was hit. I want to know if the driver was arrested. That is my only question.
School bus stops DO NOT have signs indicating they are school bus stops. I say again, drivers need to obey the law and stop for a bus with flashing lights. There are plenty of bus stops on busy streets. People need to obey the law and stop.
ignorance is bliss in Amherst, specially this time of season...oh come all you faithful!
Why is the name of the victim critical to this discussion? The victim did nothing wrong. The bus driver did nothing wrong. Maria G did nothing wrong. Peter C did nothing wrong. Only the driver who did not stop did something wrong.
Anonymous said...
School bus stops DO NOT have signs indicating they are school bus stops. I say again, drivers need to obey the law and stop for a bus with flashing lights. There are plenty of bus stops on busy streets. People need to obey the law and stop.
December 8, 2012 9:13 PM
you pompus ignorant leech! yes, you are trying to do damage control......this I understand.....but BUS stops, especially School bus stops are supposed to be marked with signs! Obviously you have no children of your own, and have no concern for safety of others. So, just go away.
Its obvious that the majority of the folks complaining here don't have kids who ride the bus. Why? Because we know the route is online and can vary by about 10 min, which we are told at the beginning of the year. They also add stops if needed during the year. As to signs, that would be outrageously expensive since on some streets it stops every 10 houses.
How on earth it is anyone's fault but the car driver is beyond me.
I do have children of my own who ride the bus and get picked up near our driveway. You are the ignorant one. NO TOWN has signs for school bus stops. You don't know what you are talking about.
They also add stops if needed during the year. As to signs, that would be outrageously expensive since on some streets it stops every 10 houses.
How on earth it is anyone's fault but the car driver is beyond me.
you pompous idiot really? are you trying to deflect that by law bus stops are supposed to be clearly marked and designated? are you trying to deflect blame onto a driver (who may be a teacher at the school who was given the "go ahead" signal from the driver).....what bus stop? C'mon Amherst, we pay enough taxes to get the answers...don't' we?
oh I am sure that the school/ and town district would LOVE to put all the blame on the driver who went through the red lights on the bus, BUT, I still being a logical mind have to ask, why? why? was this bus stopped on this dangerous street at this time of day? why? Hmmm, sheeple? if it was your child, wouldn't you want to know?
Larry Kelley said...
Last year APD participated in "Operation Yellow Blitz," ... they had zero violations.
This is kinda like how UM students whose parents live in town know which liquor stores are "cool" to buy kegs from and which ones the APD are watching.
If the teachers and parents all know that the cops are out there to enforce the stop-for-bus law, for those few days, they will actually obey the law and hence no violations.
What I am saying is that Amherst needs to assign an officer -- morning and night -- to follow a random bus without anyone's knowledge as to which one it will be. That is what it is going to take - a half dozen teachers cited for passing the wrong bus on the wrong day - to put an end to this...
Or we can ignore it.
Buses stop on dangerous streets all the time. I would not call SE street particularly dangerous. There are much more dangerous streets in holyoke and springfield and school busses stop on those streets all the time. The only time students get hit is when drivers break the law and don't stop for a bus with flashing red lights.
Wow Larry, you got some strange people responding on this thread. Who in their right mind would NOT blame the driver of the car who ignored a stopped bus with flashing red lights! A feel like I fell through a rabbit hole reading these comments.
are you trying to deflect blame onto a driver (who may be a teacher at the school who was given the "go ahead" signal from the driver)
WOW....
There is a switch to your left that turns the overhead reds off and I turned it off on occasion, and THENwaved cars through, but you turn them off first.
EVERYONE is supposed to stop -- even a police car with lights & siren going although the protocol was that you were supposed to turn the reds off as soon as you could be sure there weren't children in the road and get the officer (or ambulance/fire truck) through.
But the bus driver had to turn the overhead red lights off. I believe that is still the law -- passing a stopped school bus with the red lights flashing.
And as to school bus stop signs, they are NOT required, although if a bus stop is in a place where stopped traffic would be a hazard (e.g. around the back side of a curve or over a hill), one will often be put up to avoid rear-end collisions.
Umm...the bus was stopped to let a middle student exit. School buses have flashing lights and a stop sign (on the driver's side of the bus) that are activated by the driver when s/he is making a stop. State law requires that drivers on both sides of the road stop when the lights and stop sign are activated. Anyone who is a driver should know this law.
Students are instructed regarding bus safety and evacuation at least twice during the school year. They are required to exit the bus and pass in front of the bus if their destination (home) is across the road. This way, the bus driver can ensure that they have safely exited the roadway before they turn off the warning lights.
As was mentioned by others, there is no one at fault but the driver of the car that hit the child. It sounds that the driver followed the correct procedures, the student exited the bus as instructed and a negligent driver broke the law. It seems like a no-brainer to me.
As far as counseling, no one is required to attend counseling, and I think that it is wise for the school district to provide the services of a trained professional when students have witnessed an event such as this one. It doesn't mean that the parents/guardians cannot be involved as well. Personally, as a parent, I would speak to my child about the incident if they witnessed it or knew the child involved in the accident, but I would have no problem with my child also speaking to the school counselor if they felt a need to.
School buses have flashing lights and a stop sign (on the driver's side of the bus) that are activated by the driver when s/he is making a stop.
No. Facts matter.
The red lights (and "Stop arm", and rooftop strobe lights, if equipped) are automatically operated when the driver opens the door. There is a push button to turn on the yellows, but regardless, if the system is turned on, the reds go on the second the door is cracked open and they stay on until it is latched shut.
My point: those lights go on automatically. If you have the system turned on, the second you open the door, the lights are on.
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UPDATE (Saturday 7:15 pm)
I had forgotten that I broke the story three-and-a-half years ago about the DA finding no criminal negligence with the bus driver..."
Larry, you are such an egomaniac. Somehow every story has to circle back to you. "I broke a story," "the Irish Kelley family" lived near the railroad tracks.
You are giving lectures to journalism students? You've got to be kidding. What's your advice? Insert yourself into every story? "Dear young impressionable students, no matter what story you are covering, remember, in the end it's all about you."
Larry thinks he is a journalist. He is not. He is a blogger who wishes he could be a real journalist.
Actually I found out the day after I spoke to the UMass journo class that I had officially acquired my Certificate of Journalism.
That still does not make you a journalist. It makes you a blogger with a peace of paper. Hell, I could take a couple of online courses and earn a Certificate of Bookkeeping or a Certificate of Ministry. That does not make me a bookkeeper or minister.
The bottom line here is ~nothing~ the district says about a situation where it may be (at least in part) at fault should be believed.
The school's transportation department has a looooong history of sleeping preschoolers forgotten on vans (not once, not twice, not three times), special ed students being dropped off at wrong locations (how many times???), vehicles totaled because of drivers falling asleep at the wheel (that driver who still works for the schools, has wrecked more than one), vehicles in use which are unsafe mechanically, department worker injury (a department head permanently blinded in one eye while working on his own car during work hours, others having to "retire" because of the circumstances/severity of their injuries), cases of drivers molesting kids, cases of kids molesting kids, accidents caused by buses being towed illegally (a chain was stretched across a road and someone nearly died smashing into it), threatened lawsuits, complaints too many to count (ending up in the circular file) and on and on and on.
There's a common denominator in all of this.
It's called lack of concern and dishonesty ~specially~ on the part of certain individuals.
I know, because I worked there.
I saw it all.
I don't have to be anonymous if that what it takes to change the situation there.
But it ~has~ to change.
The bottom line here is ~nothing~ the district says about a situation where it may be (at least in part) at fault should be believed.
How in the world could the district be even partially to blame? What about illegal passing of a school bus is to hard to understand? You people are beyond absurd.
"I don't have to be anonymous if that what it takes to change the situation there."
Really, Roach Patrol? Because we've been reading your anonymous allegations here for at least three years. How long do you plan to wait before stepping up to rectify the problems that only you seem to know about?
Either you're a liar or a coward. Which is it?
A school bus picks up and drops off children close to their home. Since there are houses in front of Fort River School- School buses stop in that area.
There are no school bus stop signs
for residences.(stop locations change frequently based on the students assigned to the bus- and kindergarten students get picked up and dropped off at their driveway whenever possible)
When my son was 5- I had the bus route modified to keep him from having to walk on a busy Amherst road.
Drivers are required to follow the lights and signs on the bus itself... Flashing yellow (caution) lights inform drivers of an upcoming bus stop!
I can't believe this tragic accident is being used to make a bunch of wild and clearly mean-spirited, axe-grinding, accusations that obviously have nothing to do with this. There is no evidence that the bus was defective, the driver asleep, or any other such nonsense, The only person at fault is the driver of the car that illegally passed the school bus. The bus driver is blameless as are school officials. Bus drivers do not get off the bus and hand-hold each child crossing the street. The blame for this fall solely on the driver of the car and I am sure that a court will be dealing with him or her in the near future and it will be the last foolish, impatient, impulsive rush to get somewhere that person will be in for a long time. Meanwhile, don't use this tragedy to make a bunch of gossipy, unsubstantiated allegations. If you do indeed work there, you are a complete embarrassment.
"Really, Roach Patrol? Because we've been reading your anonymous allegations here for at least three years. How long do you plan to wait before stepping up to rectify the problems that only you seem to know about?
Either you're a liar or a coward. Which is it?"
You wanna play?
Let's start at the wretched beginning.
http://masscases.com/cases/app/53/53massappct11.html
Fran taught a lot of people a lot of things.
Some of his "students" are still around, in positions of power.
You, perhaps?
I don't see what a 20-year-old failed lawsuit against a newspaper has to do with a student getting hit by a car that ignored the buses red warning lights.
What you have to see is a school district's long history of hiring/promoting people who ~should have clearly not~ been hired to manage (or even work in) the transportation/maintenance department... and keeping them on until they are absolutely forced to get rid of them. That means ONLY after ~significant damage has been done~.
For instance, the Umass (and town) insider they hired to replace Fran, who had ZERO experience with the transportation of children, caused the town(in paying a victim for an accident HE caused when HE illegally towed a school bus using a chain which stretched across a road) and himself (blindness in one eye while working on his own vehicle ~at the school during working hours~) on more than one occasion, significant injury/loss and yet, YET worked until his "retirement" because of a heart attack (2004). And yeah, if it wasn't for that he'd likely STILL be there.
Why?
I think you know why.
Should someone be concerned?
Oh you betcha.
Three things:
1: The name of the operator of the vehicle which struck the child should be public record, as is that person's status as a public employee (i.e. teacher) if any. Larry, you ought to be able to find out who it is.
Neither the name of the child nor the list of scheduled bus stops is public, but it should be public record if (a) this was a scheduled stop with a child crossing the street to his/her/its residence or (b) the child was going somewhere else (e.g. Cumby's or even if (c) the bus made an unscheduled/unauthorized stop at the request of the child so he/she/it could go somewhere else (e.g. Cumby's.
2: The make & model of the vehicle that struck the child should also be public record. Larry, you heard "child struck by bus" on the scanner -- why would they say this?
Could the child have been hit by a DIFFERENT school bus???? Possibly a field trip bus returning to Fort River at the end of the day?
3: If the driver is alleging (a) that the bus driver waived him/her/it through the flashing red lights and (b) that such things are routinely done, particularly if (c) others confirm that such things are a common practice, then this becomes a really big mess.
It becomes the same thing as a police officer waving you through a red light, which an officer has every right to do. Likewise, even if you have a green light, if an officer signals you to stop, you have to -- and the officer may have a very urgent need for you to stop.
Massachusetts law states that you may not cross a fire hose unless a firefighter waves you across -- the firefighter knowing the strength of the hose and if your vehicle will or won't break it. What isn't clear is what if a police officer (who may know nothing about fire hoses) waves you across?
I would comply with the instructions of the officer, and if the hose burst with resultant tragedy from the FD's loss of water, possibly even causing the death of the hose team depending on it, it would be the responsibility of the officer, not me. *I* didn't make the decision.
(Before the Anonymous AFD folk attack me for this, tell me that a motorist shouldn't comply with the directions of a police officer...)
I don't know what police officers are told about fire hoses, but I do know what this school bus driver was told about the switch for the overhead red lights, that you turned them off before waving someone through.
That was every bit as much an absolute as setting the air brake before getting out of the driver's seat. (The automatic transmission doesn't have "Park" and the bus will roll...) It's on the same level as having sex with the cute 17-year-old, something that is absolutely unthinkable.
And if there is a practice of other vehicles (including other school buses) going through the red lights when it is "safe" to do so, that is Maria G's problem. The captain is responsible for her ship.
Let me go further:
I learned long ago that something consistent with everything we know possibly could be true, no matter how bizarre it may seem.
The infamous UMass rape hoax hysteria of 1999-2000 comes to mind. And I am the one who broke that story.
Imagine this hypothetical: the school bus drivers know where the other buses are supposed to stop because if someone is out sick, someone else has to know the route. So the bus the child is on makes an unscheduled stop at the request of the child, and a second bus driver, knowing that the first bus isn't supposed to be letting a child off there, operates under the implicit "ignore the reds" protocol and doesn't stop.
The child that isn't supposed to be there gets hit, and the rumor that it was a teacher operating the vehicle comes from the fact that it was a bus driver who was. (Or maybe it was another school department vehicle.)
This would explain why the APD didn't publicly make an announcement of who the driver is and the charges he/she/it is facing (at least failure to stop for a school bus) -- which you would think they would do.
If the vehicle failed to stop for the overhead red lights -- if they were operating -- WHY is the APD not announcing at least the fact that the driver has been cited for something???
The name of the driver who was cited for failure to use care in starting and failure to stop for a school bus with its red flashing lights illuminated is Nikhal P. Kapur, 32, of Ware Street, Cambridge.
According to MassLive the student waas hit by the driver after crossing in front of the bus. The driver was driving in the opposite direction of the bus.
So, Ed, aren't you sorry you wasted so much time writing those two long posts when it turns out there was no conspiracy - only a dangerous driver ignoring the law.
Neither the name of the child nor the list of scheduled bus stops is public
How interesting. So I wonder whom I should believe: Dr. A. Edward Cutting, aka Mr. "Facts Matter (But Not To Me)", or the Amherst Bulletin, which publishes the school bus schedules each fall, just before school begins.
Wow! This is better than the King of Hearts. So this is what the inside of the asylum is like.
Way beyond the pale. Time to put the house up for sale!
Geez, I guess Catherine Sanderson was the glue that was holding the insanity together.
Bus route is also online all year, every year.
"Either you're a liar or a coward. Which is it?"
Can you say:
"a pervasive sense of complacency fueled by a culture of nepotism and cronyism."
Yeah, I knew you could.
(what a festering dump)
I get a kick out of comments that ridicule the insanity on this blog (and if you are scrolling through 50+ comments, there must be some satisfaction that you are deriving from it), and then proceed to take the obligatory swipe at Catherine Sanderson......as if there wasn't something just a little bit cuckoo about that.
Psst, Anon 5:16 pm .....she's been out of politics for many moons now, and you are still obsessing about her. You'll need to get that checked.
Whenever the schools are involved, the non-Ed crazies come out of the woodwork.
Bus route is also online all year, every year.
Child molesters have access to the internet, don't they?
Am I the only one wondering if it might be a bad idea for this information to be so readily available?
You really think child molesters are going to go on the internet and look for bus routes? All you have to do is follow a school bus!!! Most streets in Amherst have a yellow school bus going up and down them at the usual times for the start of secondary school and elementary school. I don't think anyone needs to go on the internet to figure out when the school bus is where.
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