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A letter to parents regarding Bus Driver OUI Incident

By contributor,
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October 20, 2014

Dear Hopkinton parents,

We have been working with the Hopkinton Police Department as part of an active investigation regarding an incident that occurred on Saturday night. The bus driver responsible for driving our cross-country team was arrested and charged with OUI upon arriving at the high school. The Hopkinton Police Department has reported that the driver had a past record of OUI offenses. Clearly that led to many questions regarding how he was able to obtain a driver’s license and what I plan to do to ensure closer scrutiny by the District of its transportation services.

The driver in question, despite his past OUI offenses, was in a position to be driving a bus for Connolly Bus Company and Hopkinton because he met the state requirements for obtaining a license. This includes annual CORI, SORI (Sex Offender Registry Information) and a driver record check. I intend to impose stricter criteria at the district level moving forward.

While Hopkinton Public Schools does not license school bus drivers, we will continue to take appropriate action to review the suitability of our drivers. Under state law, all individuals providing school related transportation to students are subject to criminal record review and finger-printing. I have notified Michael J.Connolly & Sons Inc., the private contractor that provides the District’s busing services, that we will continue to enforce our rights under law to require finger-print checks on all drivers assigned to the District’s routes and I will personally review all existing CORI reports.

We will continue to cooperate with the Hopkinton Police in their investigation of this matter and will be conducting a full and complete internal investigation as to the actions of school personnel. I continue to assure you that the focus of the investigation is to ensure the safety of our students and to improve procedures where necessary.

Sincerely,
Cathy MacLeod, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools