Hardeman Co. school official acknowledges overcrowded buses

HARDEMAN COUNTY, Tenn. — Packed school buses in Hardeman County have parents upset and concerned about their children’s safety.

WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News spoke with some Grand Junction mothers who have students who ride the bus to Middleton High School every day. But lately their kids have complained that there hasn’t been enough space for about two weeks.

“My kids got off the bus the other day and came home for somebody to take them to school ’cause the bus was too full to get on the bus,” concerned parent Wanda Brown said.  “So they’re putting two to three bus loads of kids on one bus.”

“She can get hurt. She told me she was sitting on two peoples that day, two people,” concerned parent Laquita Cheairs said.

Although the video is a bit blurry, a student recorded the bus ride home showing some of them having to stand, sit on the floor or sit on somebody’s lap. One parent says she was encouraged by a driver to complain.

“I said, well, you know, I’m taking it to the Board of Education,” concerned parent Danice Polk said. “He said, well, you need to.’ That’s what the bus driver said.”

“It’s been a couple of accidents right down the road here with the buses, they got hit and stuff,” Brown said. “And if all them kids on that bus like that and somebody hits the bus, what’s going to happen to all the children that’s standing up?”

Transportation Director Steve Gibson says he’s seen the bus footage and the parents’ claims are true.

“I’m not going to argue that it was overcrowded — it was,” Gibson said. “The driver even told me there were children that were not sitting as they needed to sit.”

Gibson says he isn’t sure this has been a problem for two weeks but that Monday one of the three buses running from Grand Junction was in the shop and a driver was out sick. The problem forced kids from two routes to ride together, and he says he’s apologized to the parents and says this problem is an easy fix.

“I told them from now on just call the bus garage and we’ll get a sub driver from the bus garage,” Gibson said. “We don’t want our buses overcrowded.”

According to the school district, the bus that was out of commission can hold up to 90 students. But Monday, a 78-person replacement bus was used for that Grand Junction route. The transportation director says the substitute drivers should take care of this issue. He says to his knowledge overcrowding hasn’t been an issue on those Grand Junction routes before.