(WBBM/STMW) — At least 100 concerned parents addressed the District 57 school board at a special meeting last night after a bus driver was charged with DUI.
Betty Burden’s alcohol level was three times the legal limit, according to police. This was after dropping off 50 Mount Prospect elementary students.
It was pure parent outrage and not just at Betty Burden, but at District 57 transportation coordinator Vince Ramirez
Despite an apology from District 57 school board members, some parents like Rebecca Kron remain outraged that Burden was able to get behind the wheel of the bus despite two prior alcohol related complaints by fellow employees.
The board president admitted that Ramirez not only had received an alcohol-related complaint hours before Burden was arrested, but the day before.
Ramirez told investigators that he followed the bus, confronted the driver, did not detect any signs that she was drunk but called police.
District 57 school board members are now saying they’ll decide on Thursday whether or not Burden keeps her job. She is currently suspended without pay after being charged with a DUI.
Burden, 54, allegedly reeked of booze and had a blood alcohol level of 0.226 when she was arrested March 9 in Mount Prospect, prosecutors say.
She admitted downing several vodka and oranges before driving 50 students home from Lions Park Elementary School, said Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney.
A co-worker noticed the smell on her breath at 2:30 p.m., police said, but Burden’s supervisor didn’t alert police until 3:45 p.m.
Burden wasn’t arrested until she had completed her route and dropped off all of her young passengers, according to Mount Prospect Police. She failed a series of sobriety tests before failing the blood alcohol test, police said.
“What happened was totally unacceptable,” School District 57 Board President Joe Leane said last week.
She was employed for the district from 1991 to 1999 and returned to employment in August 2008, according to a release from the district. She also had a clean disciplinary history.
Burden had passed previous random drug tests, the release said. Bus drivers are not tested for alcohol.
Judge Joseph Urso ordered Burden, of Mount Prospect, held on $10,000 bond during a hearing at Rolling Meadows courthouse Wednesday morning.
A preliminary hearing was set for April 1 at the Rolling Meadows Courthouse, Simonton said.
Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.