NJ school bus woes lingered for years

Inspections can turn up violations involving drivers, but their employers keep rolling along.

By: Mike Davis
Sussanne Cervenka
Colleen Wilson
and Amanda Oglesby
Asbury Park Press
USA Today Network - New Jersey

.... On a snowy day in February 2019, a security camera caught a school mini-bus creeping across an intersection in Newark, crossing through four lanes of traffic on Jones Street and coming to a stop against a small tree on the other side of the street.
..... What the footage didn't show was the driver, Newark resident Lisa Byrd, overdosing on heroin. Nor did it show the dozen special needs students on board.
..... At the time of the crash, Byrd didn't have the necessary "S" endorsement and was qualified only as a bus aide. Byrd pleaded guilty in endangering children by neglect and was sentenced to five years' probation.
.... Neither Byrd nor her public defender could be reached for comment.
..... After the crash, Ahmed A. Maghoub, the owner of the private bus company F&A Transportation, which employed Byrd, told reporters that she chose on her own to drive the bus and was not authorized by the company.
.... But it wasn't F&A Transportation's first time being cited for allowing a person who wasn't properly license to drive a school bus. In fact, it's not all that rare for sate inspectors to find people without license driving New Jersey schoolchildren.
..... An investigation into school bus private contractors by the Asbury Park Press, part of the USA TODAY Network Atlantic Group, a consortium of 36 news sites in five states, has revealed loopholes in incorporation, inspection and public contract laws that allow dangerous bus drivers to stay on the road, school boards to award million-dollar contracts to questionable private companies, and toothless enforcement by sate regulators that have let such companies continue doing business after serous, even deadly, safety incidents.
..... Two days after the Network published its investigation online, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal charged F&A Transportation and its owners with contract fraud, theft by deception and other counts after allegedly hiring unqualified bus drivers and failing to perform background checks or drug tests.
..... Grewal specifically mentioned the crash involving Lisa Byrd as an example of F&A Transportation "putting children in jeopardy."
.... F&A Transportation, with buses based in East Orange, originally was incorporated in December 2004, according to public records. Company owner Ahmed A. Maghoub's wife, Faiza Ibrahim, was added to F&A's incorporation paperwork as the registered agent, a person who accepts correspondence on behalf of a company, in November 2006.
..... Attorney Stephen Berowitz, who is representing F&A Transportation in Municipal Court citations pending in the wake of Byrd's crash, confirmed that Maghoub is "involved" in F&A Transportation, but declined to say ho9w many other school bus companies he either owns or is involved with operating.
..... Business incorporation records also link Maghoub and Ibrahim, who live in East Hanover, to two other companies, F and A Enterprise Employee Leasing, established in 2016, and Smart Union Incorporated, a school bus company incorporated in 2013 that has public school contracts in Essex County.
..... Reporters from the Network visited an address listed for F&A Transportation and found school buses and other vehicles with names of a half-dozen other school bus contractors.
..... Byrd's case wasn't F&A Transportation's only run-in with MVC inspectors. On February 8, 2019, one of its drivers was caught driving without a commercial license during a surprise MVC inspection at The Allegro School, Hanover Township facility that specializes in programming for students with autism.
..... The company pleaded guilty on February 25, 2019 - as investigators were alleging dozens more school bus violations at its facilities - and paid $2,539 in fines and court costs, Municipal court records show.
..... F&A Transportation was cited eight more times in 2019 for failure to maintain school bus records. A prosecutor in Warren Township dismissed one of the tickets, stemming from a March 7, 2019, inspection, as part of a plea deal.
..... A ticket issued on August 23, 2019, resulted in a New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission inspection days later where the agency's staff claimed six more violations of rules for maintaining school bus records. In all, F&A was cited more than 80 times in 2019, the bulk of which came after the Byrd crash. Most of those citations are still pending in East Orange Municipal Court."
..... Berowitz said that "almost all" of the summonses issued to the company and its drivers during inspections after Byrd's crash were for allegations of improper record keeping. He said the company and the drivers are not guilty.
..... Of the three citations from 2019 that made their way through Municipal Courts, F&A paid $2,539 in fines and court costs. By comparison, F&A had a $1.9 million contract with the Paterson School District in 2019, just one of a number of contracts the company has.
..... Berowitz said he was not aware of the February 8, 2019, incident, three weeks before the Byrd crash. he said the company does not let drivers operate school buses without proper credentials.
..... "They have licensed school bus drivers. At all times they are operated by properly licensed drivers, with the one exception I am aware of being Lisa Byrd," he said.

SCHOOL BUS INDUSTRY 'CAN'T AHVE ANY BAD APPLES':

.... New Jersey School Bus Contractors Association secretary Courtney Villani, president of villani Bus Company, likened the private school bus industry to a Chris Rock joke: while every job or industry may have "a few bad apples, some jobs can't have any bad apples."
.... With more New Jersey school districts opening their doors in the coming weeks, bus drivers employed by pubic school districts, private schools and private bus contractors will be required to enforce mask-wearing and maintain social distancing on buses to curb the spread of COVID-19.
....... The issue of bad drivers behind the wheel aren't a new concern. In 2006, a legislative Commission on Business Efficiency of the Public Schools released a report that discussed the possibility of - but did not formally call for - a "hot list" of drivers fired with cause that would be circulated to districts and contractors.
.... Later, the commission discussed maintaining a record of bus companies with a history of crashes, said former state Senator Joseph Doria, who was the chairman of the commission and later led the Department of Community affairs.
..... When told about the findings of the Network's investigation, Doria said he wasn't surprised: "These have been problems going was back," he said.
..... "The private bus companies didn't do the kind of background checks that the school systems had to do when they ran their own bus systems,: Doria said.
..... The "hot list" concept came with a cost of state officials monitoring bus companies and drivers and - eventually, Doria hoped - completing background checks of potential drivers, instead of taking companies at their word.
..... But the commission;s 2006 report recommending these changes was its last. In former Governor Jon S. Corzine's 2007 budget, funding for the commission was cut entirely.
..... "There was never any follow-up by anybody," Doria said.

BAD INSPECTIONS ARE 'THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS':

..... The MVC inspects both school-district-owned bus fleets and more than 1,200 private bus contractors.
..... In 2019, the MVC issued nearly 1,100 violations to both bus drivers and the bus operators who employ them according to a report the Network obtained in a public records request. while the commission is required to inspect every bus twice per year for scheduled inspections, the vast majority of violations - about 86% in 2019 - come form the MVC's monthly unannounced inspections.
..... The MVC conducts about 100 surprise inspections on school buses each year. Inspectors often conduct the surprise inspections at places where they know many different buses will be, like field trip venues or specialized schools that draw students from many school districts.
..... Comparatively, the MVC inspected more than 47,000 buses in 2019 as part of its mandated two inspections of each bus per year. Officials said those scheduled visits leave little time for MVC staff to conduct more surprise inspections, which often capture more egregious violations.
..... It's simple, said MVC Chief Administrator Sue Fulton. When bus companies know inspectors are coming, they clean up their act.
..... During unannounced inspections, MVC staff often find drivers whose names weren't on the company's driver roster when inspectors came for scheduled visits.
..... The twice-a-year schedule by which school bus inspections occur allows for companies to operate for months at a time without fear of enforcement.
..... "If we show up, and drivers who are not properly credentialed getting into the driver's seat," Fulton said.
..... The Network reviewed all of the MVC's school bus inspection reports and memos in 2019, which detail the lengths taken by school bus companies and drivers to avoid facing penalties from the state.
..... At a surprise inspection May 31, 2019, at Donald Payne Technology School in Newark, MVC inspectors said they found one A-1 Elegant driver who had been driving on a suspended license and failing to provide records or documentation for the bus, including the required pretrip inspection report. that same driver was arrested shortly after the inspection when a background check revealed he was a convicted sex offender, wanted on charges that he didn't register his address, per Megan's Law requirements.
..... A-1 elegant was issued a summons for allowing him to drive a commercial vehicle. The company would later be charged by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office with failing to conduct criminal background checks.
..... That case is still pending. Joe Rotella, the attorney representing A-1 Elegant owner Shelim Khalique, declined to comment.
.... Six months later, the MVC made an unannounced inspection at two adjoining schools Norman A. Bleshman school and Washington elementary - in Paramus, where inspectors claim they recognized a driver, Genesis Gonzalez-Estrella, as one Haiti had cited in the past for driving without the proper licence.
.... When inspectors confronted Gonzalez-Estrella, they say, she gave a false name - Maria Rodriguez - and sped off. they called the dispatch office at private bus contractor R&V, her employer, and demanded that both the bus and Gonzalez-Estrella return for the inspection.
.... "Another driver showed up and admitted that she was not the driver from earlier,: according to a memo following up on the inspections. "The company was contacted again and advised to send the driver who had left the inspection. The driver never arrived."
..... Gonzalez-Estrella later pleaded guilty to failing to possess a driver's license, failing to possess a CDL and failing to make records available, according to Municipal Court records.
..... Inspectors also found a bus from First Student, another private bus company, with its check-engine light on and two more drivers who did not have proper license to drive school buses, according to an inspection report.
..... One of those drivers, whom investigators identified in there memo as Wilson O. Camden, was for Gentle Ride Medical Transportation, another private bus company.
.... Gentle Rid's owner told investigators he didn't know why Camden "was driving students.
..... The owner stated that Camden "was in the process of filling out paperwork and had not been hired by him," the memo said.
..... While public school districts also are cited for violations during inspections, Fulton said the vast majority of violations are issued to private school bus companies - who will easily absorb the civil fines associated with a bad inspection as the "cost of doing business."
..... The School Bus Enhanced Safety Inspection Act, which makes up the framework of MVC inspections, specifically says fines have a cap of $500 for violations under that statute, including malfunctioning equipment and failure to keep or maintain records.
..... Fines can go even higher for those caught putting an unlicensed or unqualified driver behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle. Individuals caught driving without a commercial driver's license face fines starting at $500 and racketing up to $5,000 for repeat offenses.
..... Companies that allow people to drive commercial vehicles without proper credentials face fines up to $25,000.
..... But they're easily absorbed by companies with contracts in the millions, Fulton said.
..... "These private companies are making enough money from school boards that it's in their interest to continue to operate," she said. "The sanctions are not steep enough to keep them from continuing to do business."
.... On March 14, [2020] the last day before COVID-19 changed everything, nearly 50 school buses from various companies pulled into a parking lot in Eatontown in Monmouth County to drop children off at Hawskwood School.
..... Immediately after the students disembarked, the buses underwent unannounced inspections by the MVC, part of approximately about 100 such inspections each year.
.... About a dozen MVC inspectors fanned out across the rain-soaked parking lot and asked drivers for their license and registration and the paperwork they must fill out as they inspect their bus each morning, a state requirement for drivers before they take a bus out of the depot to pick up students.
..... MVC staff warmed the buses quickly so drivers farther back in line can't fill out their "pretrip" paperwork while they wait for their turn to take to inspectors. Even then, some bus drivers still try, inspectors said.
..... John Laug was one of those bus drivers whose bus were cited for further inspection.
..... "I had to switch buses this morning, because my bus's lift was bad, and I didn't fill out my pretrip," said Laug, an 86-year0old driver for R&D Transit services LLC.
..... "I mad sure the bus was in good shape, but I didn't fill out the paperwork. The bus is perfectly fine - everything is working - but if you don't fill that out, it's just as bad," Laug said. "I was wrong. What are you gonna do?"
..... and for a man who would later pay a $190 ticket in Eatontown Municipal Court, Laug was understanding of the MVC's mission.
.... "Their worried about the kids, and I don't blame them," he said.

PROSECUTORS DISMISS 40% OF SAFETY VIOLATIONS:

.... Laug paid a $190 fine, according to court records. His violation was one of 14 issued that day - including one for a driver who did not have a commercial driver's license and a second whose CDL was suspended.
..... But when school bus safety violations are processed, they face a high rate of dismissal by municipal prosecutors, the Network's investigation found.
..... Since 2017, more than 40% of all violations under the School Bus enhanced Safety Inspection act have been dismissed by municipal prosecutors, according to statistics from the New Jersey Judiciary.
.... In recent years, dismissals statewide are down while the numbers of violations have increased: In 2019, New Jersey courts dismissed fewer than 31% of the 544 cases it processed. In 2015, more than half of the cases were dismissed.
..... Counties prioritize school bus safety at different levels. Fro example, Essex County, where A-1 Elegant is based, dismissed over two-thirds of the school bus safety violations its courts handled in 2018. In nearby Morris County, only 27% of school bus safety violations were dismissed.
..... Statistics were not available for license violations -such as a school bus driver without the proper license or endorsement - because those statutes include other industries in addition to school buses.
..... Brian Mason, president of the New Jersey Municipal Prosecutors Association said prosecutors reach plea bargains with most defendants.
..... though he said he had never come across a violation of the School Bus enhanced safety Inspection Act, he said New Jersey prosecutors often dismiss charges as part of plea deals to ensure that court proceedings aren't backed up.
.... Mason said he has prosecuted cases of unlicensed or unqualified drivers in a school bus - more in the last year [2019] than any time previously.
.... The high dismissal rate of school bus safety violations could be related to plea bargains by frequent violators, he said.
.... "If there's 10 things wrong with a bus, most of these companies will hire an attorney. Then it's a matter of how you resolve cases," Mason said. "If someone came to me with an equipment issue and an ["S"] endorsement issue, I'd dismiss the equipment change and go for the endorsement charge. You're talking about a much greater fine, which hopefully is a much greater deterrent."
..... Both MVC Administrator Fulton and the department of Education declined to comment on the dismissals of school bus violations by prosecutors.
.... With this disconnect between the MVC and the courts, the only long-lasting damage private school bus contractors face is to their reputation. After too many crashes or too many state-issued violations, companies run the risk of losing contracts with safety-centric school districts.
..... "the contractors who fly right, do all their compliance, keep all their records, pay all their taxes, have a good fleet - they're the most expensive to operate," said Evie Willis, administrator of the New Jersey school Bus contractors Association. "Then you have a prospective driver who's engaged in some sort of fraudulent or misinformed activity trying to get a job. and you have an employer who doesn't completely vet that employee and a school district who looks the other way.
..... "Some districts seen to act like all that matters is the low bid."

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