(WBBM/STMW) – The Mount Prospect school district that employs the allegedly drunk school bus driver is defending its actions this morning saying it did not have the authority to remove the driver when it was believed she had been drinking.
The school district superintendent says a Herald a Federal Motor Carriage Safety Administration rule requires that a person have actual knowledge that a school bus driver is drunk before that person can be removed. The superintendent says the director was not able to conclude that the driver had been drinking or was intoxicated.
Betty Burden has been charged with a DUI after being stopped shortly after dropping 50 students off.
A spokesperson for the federal agency says the school district has “completely misunderstood the purpose of the law.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” said agency spokesman Duane DeBruyne.
Burden is currently suspended without pay.
The Mount Prospect District 57 school board holds a special meeting Monday night and the session is sure to be heated with Burden’s arrest the chief topic.
Burden, 54, allegedly reeked of booze and had a blood alcohol level of 0.226 when she was arrested Tuesday afternoon 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.
Officials are investigating the delay getting Burden off the road, he added.
She has been suspended without pay and faces termination at a meeting next week, according to a school district news release. The release said administrators were “outraged.”
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.
Statement on District 57 Web site www.d57.org:
Given the substantial press coverage of late, you are no doubt aware that Betty Burden was arrested on March 9th for operating one of our school buses under the influence of alcohol. Ms. Burden has been served with a notice that she will be recommended for termination at the Board of Education’s March 18th meeting. She remains suspended without pay until the Board meeting.
Regarding the recent coverage of this incident, we ask you to please understand that some of the published accounts have created an impression of our response to the incident that we believe is misleading. Within approximately fifteen minutes of receiving notification that Ms. Burden may not be fit to drive, our transportation director tracked down, intercepted and stopped the bus. Our director, unlike a police officer trained to identify intoxicated drivers, was not able to conclude Ms. Burden had been drinking or that she was intoxicated. Consequently, he allowed the bus to continue under his surveillance until the police could arrive to make a professional assessment of Ms. Burden’s condition.
We appreciate and understand that people wish the bus had never left the District, or that once it was stopped, it stayed stopped. We will be addressing these concerns as part of our investigation of this incident. We will also be reviewing all of our transportation training needs and procedures to determine what can be done to prevent an incident like this from ever happening again. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
The Board of Education will be holding a Special Meeting on Monday, March 15, 2010, at Lincoln Middle School – Busse Gym. The meeting will begin at 6:30PM with the Board members going into Closed Session. The Board will reconvene into Open Session at 7:30PM for the purpose of discussing the incident.
Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.
