MANATEE — Superintendent Tim McGonegal decided to temporary reassign a bus driver to another position pending the outcome of an administrative hearing after a lengthy discussion at Monday night’s school board meeting.
Stephanie Waiters was initially recommended to be placed on suspension without pay. She had been on paid leave after school officials say she violated school transportation operating procedures stemming from a Feb. 11 morning bus ride to Palmetto High School.
The incident began after a substitute bus driver told Waiters that students misbehaved, yelled and made racial slurs at him during Feb. 9 and 10 trips to the school, according to a complaint. So on Feb. 11, Waiters boarded bus No. 537 with the driver for a morning trip to the school.
During the ride she reportedly read aloud a list of students’ names and allegedly told them they should “enjoy the ride because it would be their last day riding the bus.”
After that, Waiters, a 13-year employee with the district, reportedly told the students they would be released to either deputies or their parents. She told some students to call their parents to pick them up. A Palmetto High resource officer and the school’s assistant principal arrived at the stop and took the students, who could not reach their parents, to school.
Only the school’s principal or a principal designee can suspend students from a bus, according to school policies. District operating procedures and the Code of Student Conduct require students to have cell phones turned off while on buses.
Waiters’ hearing is set for June 16. An administrative judge will preside over the hearing, and will make recommendations to the school board. The board will then make the ultimate decision whether to go with the judge’s recommendations.
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