Castle Rock, Colo. (KDVR) — A Douglas County school bus driver filling in on an unfamiliar route accused of dropping off 40 kids at a cemetery said the situation was “a nightmare” and that he could’ve taken different steps.
Irving Johnson, who goes by Irnie, has been a school bus driver with Douglas County for seven years and has never had something like this happen.
The route he normally drives was in a blackout week, meaning it wasn’t running, so he was assigned to fill in on an unfamiliar route.
He said when the children got onto the bus on Monday they were a bit unruly.
“I picked all of the kids up and spent probably 15 to 20 minutes parked in front of the elementary trying to get them to be quiet and sit in their seats properly,” Johnson said.
He said the principal had to come onto the bus to calm the children down before they could leave.
Johnson said the principal even offered to ride the route with him, but he declined.
However, after making two stops, the tablet that provides directions along the route stopped working.
“The tablet wasn’t working properly, and so I asked the kids to tell me where the stops are … because I have never driven this route and had no idea where they are,” said Johnson.
So, Johnson said he started taking directions from the children, and that he was pretty aware of the area and where they needed to go.
He said he stopped just short of the next bus stop after he saw a group of adults he assumed were parents waiting on the curb.
Johnson said he looked back into the bus and saw a line of children ready to get off.
He said he stopped the first child and asked if this was their stop, but the child didn’t respond, continuing to get off.
Johnson also claimed it wasn’t chaotic at all as opposed to how some parents have described it.
“Perhaps they felt since I was having difficulty with the route and the navigation that it would be better to get off the bus, but there was no commotion over that,” he said.
“I did not tell the children to leave the bus,” Johnson said. “They’re expected to get off at their stop and know where they are, and that’s what I assumed they were doing until I saw there were not as many kids on the bus.”
After the children got off, Johnson said he was stunned and didn’t know what to do, so he returned to the terminal.
He said he realized he should have followed the district’s protocol and notified dispatch immediately or gotten off the bus to speak with the children.
“It was a nightmare and I didn’t handle it well,” Johnson said.
Johnson has since been terminated by the district.
He said he would miss the children and apologized to anyone affected.
“I apologize to anybody who’s watching this that I affected by my lack of ability to straighten that out at the time it happened,” he said.
Every school bus is equipped with video and audio recorders, but the school district said the video will not be released until later because the incident is being investigated by the Castle Rock Police Department.
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