Greenwich High School Football Team Bus Drove Wrong Way On I-95: Officials

GREENWICH, CT — A bus carrying the Greenwich High School freshman football team drove down the wrong way of Interstate-95 on Sept. 12, according to school officials, who called the incident "disturbing."

In a letter to families last week, Superintendent of Greenwich Public Schools Dr. Toni Jones, GHS Principal Ralph Mayo, and GHS Athletic Director Peter Georgiou said they have demanded a "full investigation" into the bus company First Student Inc.

The bus was headed back to Greenwich from West Haven when, due to traffic and construction detours on I-95 in the Norwalk area, the driver needed to reenter the highway but did so in the wrong direction, the school officials said.

"We have been told that due to a road closure, thankfully, there was very little oncoming traffic beyond the highway work trucks. Witness accounts have shared with us that the bus made a u-turn and proceeded to exit down the ramp," the officials said, adding there was no accident and everyone arrived home safely.

"We have insisted that this bus driver not be on any of our long routes after school hours moving forward, pending the results of this investigation," the school officials continued. "Should the investigation deem this account that we received accurate, an intensive re-training will be conducted. We have also asked them to be proactive with additional training for their drivers to ensure this kind of incident does not reoccur."

First Student issued a statement to Patch on Monday afternoon.

"At First Student, the safety of the students we transport is always our first priority and a responsibility we take very seriously," wrote First Student spokesperson Frank McMahon in an email. "We understand the concern this incident has caused and are thankful everyone on our bus at the time made it back to GHS safely. We are currently conducting a thorough internal review into what happened last Thursday. While we do, the driver has been removed from service."

The school officials said the investigation include GPS's review of video footage from the bus. Jones, Mayo and Georgiou thanked the coaches "that were on the bus for the attentiveness during this time."