by DAVID TAUBE/dtaube@fltimes.com
Thursday, January 28, 2010
PHELPS — A Midlakes bus driver was terminated after a 6-0 school board vote Wednesday, much to the dismay of a parent, colleague and four students who were there to voice their support.
At the board’s request, Superintendent Mike Ford played footage of a September traffic accident the driver was involved in. But signs held up by the four 11th-grade students said the driver — Patricia Dumas — drove safely and that the district would save $8,100 by using a new driver.
“It has nothing to do with money. None at all,” Ford said. “[Dumas had] two incidents in under a year, and they were both a driver error. I would be remiss in my duties, if we came back in a year with sirens, if we weren’t as lucky.”
Ford said Dumas drove through a stop sign, allowing a railroad crossing arm to land on the bus’s lights above her head.
A letter from Finger Lakes Railway indicated she was not at fault, however.
“We feel that the driver of this bus was taking the safe course by her actions and got caught in an unusual circumstance. We consider this as a non-incident,” said the letter signed by the railway’s general manager, S.C. Arnold.
Ford and the board acknowledged that the incident was first perceived as a malfunction on the railroad’s part, which a police investigation also supported.
But a re-creation and video of the incident showed that Dumas failed to stop, Ford said. That put a busload of children at risk, he said.
The footage came from a security camera inside the bus. The incident involved a railroad crossing gate on Church Street in the town of Phelps. Ford said the moving background seen through the windows, along with the odometer, showed the bus failed to stop at a stop sign.
The district’s investigation also found that three sets of flashing lights came on 30 seconds before the railroad crossing arm came down. Ford said the incident would not have occurred if the driver had made a complete stop and looked left and right.
Ford also cited a history of behavior and work-related issues with Dumas. Ford said she once flew by a student’s house, stopped, and then drove the bus in reverse into a vehicle.
Students, however, defended Dumas.
Several said they thought of Dumas like a mother because she’d been their bus driver as early as kindergarten. Prior to the meeting, they said they never felt safety was an issue.
“I just feel like the issues are serious charges that should be reconsidered and really looked at,” said Tina Fiori, a parent.
Fiori said there’s a big difference between people who get from point A to point B and people who do it safely as well as go above and beyond their job requirements.
Junior Tiffany Murray recalled how Dumas even put a sticker on the first step of the bus to make her smile.
“She wouldn’t let me get past it if I wasn’t in a good mood. And that happened a lot. So she always encouraged me, and helped me grow into the person I am today,” Murray said.
Ford suspended Dumas in December. He said she has the option for an independent arbitration hearing. She worked for the district for 19 years.
Dumas did not attend the school board meeting.