Dann calls for charges against bus company
One of the company's drivers was arrested by Columbus police on a charge of cocaine possession.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The state attorney general called for criminal charges against a company that discovered it had not done complete criminal background checks on its school bus drivers, leading the city school district to cancel a day of classes.
Failing to conduct the background checks is a misdemeanor, said Attorney General Marc Dann, who planned to contact the Columbus city attorney about pursuing a case against First Student Inc.
The contractor is responsible for 48 of about 670 bus routes in Columbus Public Schools, which resumed classes Friday for its roughly 56,000 students, spokesman Michael Fulwider said.
The company's decision to ground its Columbus fleet on Thursday came two days after one of the company's drivers was arrested by Columbus police on a charge of cocaine possession. The driver also had three previous convictions for driving under the influence.
When First Student learned Wednesday about the arrested driver's record, it began reviewing its files in Columbus and decided to suspend service after finding evidence that its staff had failed to submit all drivers' fingerprints to the state for processing, the company said in a statement.
Nothing since 2004
First Student had not submitted any of its bus drivers' information to the state for checks since August 2004, said Jennifer Brindisi, spokeswoman for Dann. His office notified other Ohio schools that use the agency for busing, she said.
The matter prompted the Cincinnati school district to request that First Student and the two other private companies that operate buses for the district resubmit screenings on all drivers. All three agreed to do so, the district said in a statement.
First Student said in a statement that it's completing a comprehensive review of all of its locations across the state to ensure they followed proper procedures.
All but five of its 60 Columbus bus drivers cleared background checks Thursday through the state's Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, Brindisi said.
She said the records of the remaining five require further investigation.