Message from Hall about Bus Incident on March 26

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MARCH 28, 2018     

An investigation over the past 48 hours of an incident between a Mahomet-Seymour bus and private vehicle has yielded the following facts:

• On Monday, March 26th at approximately 8:00 a.m. a Mahomet-Seymour School bus, making a right turn to proceed west on State Street, clipped a vehicle (car) making a left turn from the same location.  
• At the time of the contact with the other vehicle, the driver was unaware that contact had been made with the vehicle. This is supported by video evidence from inside the bus.  The driver proceeded to Mahomet-Seymour High School to drop off students. The driver then proceeded to Mahomet-Seymour Jr. High School to drop off students. At this time, several students exiting the bus indicated to the driver she had scraped a vehicle.  
• Her reaction to this information was one of surprise, as she was not aware of any contact with another vehicle.  She then immediately contacted the Director of Transportation. After communicating with him, she proceeded on to drop off the remaining students on the bus at school.
• This information is supported through the evidence supplied by the video camera system on the bus.

Various accounts of this incident posted on social media are not accurate.   The district has taken the time to thoroughly investigate the incident, utilizing the video evidence, which also contains the audio recording, and following up with the driver and Mahomet Police Department.

The Mahomet Police Department investigated the incident after being contacted by the driver of the private vehicle, and determined it was not a “hit and run.”  Neither driver was ticketed. An exchange of information took place, and an accident report was written. Chief Mike Metzler characterized the incident as “a non-event.”

The school district continually monitors any incident that occurs in/around our school day, as well as our follow up protocols.  We will continue to examine and monitor that. We understand that some parents are concerned that they were not immediately notified about this incident and others are concerned they first found out about this via local media.  At the time, in assessing the event, evidence suggested it was extremely minor. There were no student injuries and there was no disruption to the school day for any students involved. There was nothing reported to the local media by the school district or the police.

However, we live in a day where events get picked up, amplified, and often misrepresented on social media. This causes alarm and concern.  Some parents would have preferred that we had would have released an update Monday shortly after the event took place. We understand that and will take those concerns into account moving forward.

Further questions about the incident can be directed to Chief Mike Metzler at the Mahomet Police Department.