The Green Mountain Transit driver who was fired after ordering Burlington school children off his bus on May 23 is back on the job.
Union leaders successfully challenged the driver’s termination in a labor grievance, and he returned to work in August.
“We followed a contractual grievance process with our union partners and he was reinstated,” Jon Moore, GMT’s interim general manager, said Tuesday morning after a regularly scheduled board meeting.
In a separate development, two parents of kids involved in the May incident have filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission.
A parent originally drew attention to the incident by posting on Facebook that the driver had singled out children of color and ordered them off the bus for “singing and clapping.”
Footage viewed by Seven Days revealed that some of the children were white and that they had been told to exit after loudly chanting, banging on the bus and ignoring the driver’s request that they stop.
After reviewing the video, GMT officials said the driver had not acted in a discriminatory manner but had violated protocols in ordering the children off the bus. The agency suspended the driver with pay and then fired him, over the union’s objections. GMT has refused to identify the driver, citing personnel rules.
Burlington contracts with GMT to transport students who do not live within walking distance to schools. District leaders generally agreed that there was no bias but expressed concern about the children’s safety. School officials also pledged to work with students to improve onboard behavior.
Moore said Tuesday that he’s now regularly communicating with Burlington Superintendent of Schools Yaw Obeng and other administrators “to make sure that we’re working collaboratively, to make sure that kids get home safely.”
Thomas Chittenden, the GMT board chair, echoed that: “I think every organization, everybody can do better on these things.”
The driver received CTO — combined time off — due to him, but he did not receive back pay for the time he was off the job, Moore said.
Montpelier attorney Robert Appel said he’s representing the two parents who filed the human rights complaint. Appel declined to name the parents, saying they feared retaliation.
According to Appel, the complaint alleges that the bus driver violated public accommodations law and, in ordering children who were overwhelmingly students of color off the bus, showed racial bias.
“I know the bus company has said that it wasn’t, and the school has said that it wasn’t, but we would appreciate an independent look by the commission,” Appel said.
It’s possible the case could be settled, Appel added: “My clients are looking for some guarantee that the bus company will take these matters more seriously.”
Bor Yang, the executive director and legal counsel for the Vermont Human Rights Commission, told Seven Days via email that she could not comment on any complaint or provide a copy of it.
The GMT board went into executive session at Tuesday’s meeting to discuss the complaint. No action was taken.
“It was to make sure the board’s aware of current conversations,” Moore said. He declined to provide further details.
Moore became interim manager of Green Mountain Transit shortly after the July 20 resignation of former general manager Mark Sousa, who the board had put on leave on July 8.
Sousa negotiated a separation agreement that paid him a severance of $10,159, in addition to a lump sum of $29,969 for accrued CTO. The bus agency also agreed to pay $6,774 to cover three months of COBRA health insurance for Sousa following his resignation.
Asked if Sousa’s departure was related to the May bus incident, Chittenden said a “variety of factors” came before the board, and Sousa resigned.
A search for a new manager is underway. Moore said he hasn’t decided whether to apply.
“I haven’t made my mind up on that yet,” he told Seven Days.
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Glad he’s been reinstated. I’m sure he will have better judgement in the future.
Second chances – if you have ever been given one, you know what I mean.
Glad former Councilor Hartnett spoke up about this.
My son is an Edmunds student. He wishes that he could be provided a safe, non-threatening, adequate ride home after school. He has ridden the bus numerous times and each time is left saying “never again’.” It stresses him out. The behavior by a group of students is so disrespectful, loud, offensive and inappropriate that he can’t believe that nothing is done about it. The thing is that the kids doing it know that the bus driver has absolutely no authority to do anything. He will lose his job and be vilified as a racist. The kids, and everyone else, knows that all they have to do is scream bias and they will be lifted up and rewarded as little social justice warriors.
In the meantime, kids who just want to ride home iin peace, get no protections, no accommodation and no promise of “getting home safely.” by Burlington Superintendent of Schools Yaw Obeng and other administrators.
“….have better judgement in the future.”??? His judgement was on point. We need more people willing to stand up to young people’s horrible behavior and lack of moral fiber. This is what you get when liberals control your city; everything turns to crap. BSD is bragging of lower suspension rates bur ask people that work in the district and they’ll tell you it’s a dangerous place as a result of the new, and not improved, restorative practices. You know, that’s when a kid beats another kid and they sit in a circle and says, “sorry”, even though they’re not. They really learn a lesson that way! The other commentator’s child is in fear on the bus. Nobody cares. What a shame that such a once wonderful place is being destroyed by virtue signaling, loud mouthed, liberal adults.
Carson, you’re basically right except you keep saying it’s types of people who are at fault. There aren’t any races or types anymore – no more ethnic jokes or “libtards” – just people. But you’re right – some people are wrong. I’m glad things got sorted out – and in future everyone should learn something. Often.
Everyone In our solar system has concluded that this incident had nothing to do with race and everything to do with a bunch of bratty kids and a bus driver who handled the situation incorrectly.
Except for one opportunist.
Robert Appel.
Mr. Appel would accuse Dr. Martin Luther King himself of racial bias.
*It*s possible the case could be settled, Appel added.*
Of course it*s possible! Cash, checks, credit cards, and money orders are accepted! He*s standing by now and will happily accept your settlement money, Thanks.
He was right to kick them off the bus !! The students who were acting like that were putting other students in danger. The bus driver has enough to do by watching the traffic and making sure the kids are sitting down. I would not want to be a driver for unruly kids.
When I was a kid and rode a school bus we were told to SIT, any fighting, screaming acting up you were put off the bus and when your parents found what happened, boy you were in trouble. Our parents didn’t threaten to sue or call racist.
We were taught to respect our peers, which is not done with this generations. I think the driver used good judgment. It’s not like they were 20-30 miles from home. Plus I’m sure they had cell phones.. Bet the parents have said those famous words “My child wouldn’t do that” !!!
Glad he was reinstated. Meanwhile the problem still has to be resolved. Kids who act up should be banned from riding on the bus. Period. Other children should not have to be stressed and harassed and neither should the bus driver. If their behavior keeps him from doing his job because they have no respect, it’s on them – AND their parents, I might add. Enough is enough.
No justification for leaving children on the street. Need plan, like
~call police to meet the bus and stay with children until a parent or responsible adult picks them up.
~video camera on bus, amazed that there aren’t several there now, monitored by staff at schools. Bus driver can alert school to a problem.
~rules! Students who ignore the rules lose bus privileges.
Come on, this is failure on the part of the schools to manage perennial bad bus behavior. Hasn’t changed since my kids rode the bus, and it was a nightmare then.
As we speak, there are still drivers that are not comfortable doing those runs! The video proved the allegations to be false. There isn’t an ounce of racism between the drivers, which includes all kinds of ethnic backgrounds. The simple fact is that the people in charge failed to enforce what was already in place. Years of complaints from the drivers were ignored. Nothing done from the company, the school district or the local officials. It had to come to this to show where the REAL failure was and it wasn’t on that driver! We have all raised kids and we know when “kids will be kids”, but when it crossed the line, the complaints fell of deaf ears. We now have a “code of conduct” created by the School district and the company. We had one before. We will see. Enforcement is the key to a safer ride for ALL children. Thanks to all who commented with a level head. Politics clouded what really happened and that was the driver couldn’t operate safely nor should any driver operate under those conditions, on ANY route!