School bus driver's lesson in safety gets her in trouble

NILES -- A bus driver for Weathersfield Local Schools pleaded innocent to charges of child endangerment and permitting an unlicensed driver to take the wheel after police said she allowed fifth-grade pupils behind the wheel of a bus.
The charges against Michelle A. White, 36, of Salt Springs Road, stem from September, when White reportedly allowed four fifth-grade pupils to participate in a safety exercise in the Mineral Ridge High School parking lot, court records show.
According to police reports, White pretended to faint and had the pupils slide into the seat and stop the bus.
The exercise was not sanctioned by the school district or the board of education.
White has been a bus driver for the district since August 1997 and earns $17.21 an hour. The charges are misdemeanors, and White remains free on her own recognizance.
A preliminary hearing is set for 9 a.m. Jan. 9 before municipal court Judge Thomas W. Townley.