BY ANN GENADER
WEST MILFORD — Bus drivers and parents who filled the West Milford Board of Education meeting room at Westbrook School Tuesday said they believe a driver who took action that she felt was best when she encountered a personal emergency while on the job should not be fired.
There was some board discussion on the subject in an executive session. Returning to the public meeting the trustees agreed to remove an agenda resolution that would have resulted in the firing of the suspended driver from her job. There was no further discussion on the subject by the board.
The matter was to be placed on the May 23 meeting agenda, said Secretary Administrator Barbara Francisco.
Joan Marie Fredericks, president of the West Milford School Bus Drivers Association, spoke at the public session during the board meeting. She said that the driver – who has been working for the district's Transportation Department for 21 years - did what anyone would do if they suffered a sudden emergency situation that required immediately getting to a restroom.
Fredericks said the driver contacted a mother who she knew and considered reliable and asked her to stay with the children on the bus while she left the vehicle and went into the woman’s home at Upper Greenwood Lake to use the bathroom facilities. Returning to the bus, the driver continued driving and finished her assigned route.
The driver reported the incident to Transportation Supervisor Charles Mazzei. She was suspended from her job without pay and a recommendation went before the board that she be fired.
The other district bus drivers submitted a petition at Tuesday’s meeting asking the board to let the driver keep her job.
The bus driver’s union president said the driver was on medication for gastrointestinal distress and felt she was well enough to be working when she started out for work that day. Suddenly, when she started to not feel well, she reacted.
The parents who spoke in support of the driver said she is a person they trust with the care of their children; they said that every bus driver deserves appreciation and respect; and they said they believe the driver is a good person and a good bus driver.