District explains mysterious school bus incident to Moncton parents

After two weeks, parents have finally received more information from the Anglophone East School District about what happened to their children on a school bus on March 27. 

Superintendent Randolph MacLean said it began with a misbehaving group of seven students. 

"Despite the driver's best efforts to manage the situation through verbal reminders and redirection, the behaviour had not improved," MacLean explained in a letter sent to parents on Wednesday. 

"The driver then made the decision to keep the group on the bus, finish the regular route with the other students and return to the original stop with the intent of speaking directly with caregivers of the group, waiting."

He said the students were kept on the bus for about 19 extra minutes, while the driver finished his route.

In those minutes, some parents were left waiting at the bus stop, unsure why their children were not allowed to get off or why the bus drove away with them. 

Chris Roberts was at the stop to meet his five-year-old son. He said his heart "pounded out of my chest" with the uncertainty of the whole thing.

Kenny Caron was also at the bus stop when his 10-year-old son was finally returned. He said he was panicking because he didn't know if the driver was "having a mental breakdown or what is going on."

Caron's wife Gylian said they are content with the superintendent's letter, although the Carons had hoped for speedier communications from the district.

'Safe at all time'

In his letter, a copy of which was obtained by CBC News, MacLean said the students "were safe at all times," but he did acknowledge that the driver's actions "did not align with our established protocols and may have contributed to concern and uncertainty. What was intended as a supportive and corrective action escalated negatively, and I regret that I did not communicate with you sooner."

After the incident, Anglophone East did not respond to questions from CBC News.

MacLean said in his letter that the district has conducted a thorough investigation, "including a review of the bus video footage and a meeting with the driver."

"It was determined that while the driver was faced with challenging student behaviour — creating an unsafe environment for all of students on the bus — the response taken was not in accordance with established operating procedure."

MacLean also said the district has taken the following steps to prevent the incident from happening again:

• A transportation supervisor has been assigned to accompany the driver on the afternoon route for a period of time to provide additional support. 
• A revised seating plan has been put in place to improve supervision and reduce distractions.
• Behaviour concerns will be addressed through school-level disciplinary procedures.
• A camera will remain on the route.

MacLean said all drivers have been reminded of how to properly deal with behavioural issues. 

"I acknowledge that our regular communication protocol was not followed in a timely way following this incident," he wrote. "I apologize that a broader message was not shared with all impacted families sooner. I am committed to improving my communication practices in the future."

MacLean did not respond to an interview request from CBC.