West Orange Schools Beef Up Drug Testing For Bus Drivers

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange Public School District will be beefing up its drug and alcohol testing requirements for school bus drivers in the wake of a recent crash that took place in its neighbor school district of Newark, according to Superintendent Eveny de Mendez.

The Newark crash – which didn’t involve West Orange employees or vehicles – took place on Feb. 20 when a driver had an apparent medical episode while behind the wheel of a school bus. The vehicle was carrying a dozen children with special needs at the time, authorities said.

After the crash, emergency responders treated the driver with Narcan, a drug commonly used to reverse opiate overdoses. She was later arrested, police said.

Some people - including the owner of the bus company - have since questioned police allegations that the driver was on drugs at the time of the crash, instead suggesting that a medical issue related to diabetes may have rendered her unconscious.

• See related article: NJ Woman Crashed School Bus, Wasn't Authorized To Drive, Report Says

During the Feb. 25 meeting of the West Orange Board of Education, Superintendent de Mendez brought up the Newark crash, saying that while it didn’t involve West Orange students, drivers or vehicles, the district can still learn from the incident.

According to de Mendez, in addition to the district’s own employee substance abuse policy, all bus drivers in the West Orange school district are subject to the drug and alcohol testing requirements of the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act. This also applies to contracted drivers who transport West Orange students, the superintendent said.

Testing for contracted bus drivers takes place four times a year for 45 percent of drivers, the superintendent stated.

Currently, the district employs 31 transportation employees that hold a CDL license. All of these drivers are sent for drug and alcohol testing during the preemployment process. In addition, about 30 percent of those drivers are tested randomly twice every year, she stated.

However, “effective immediately,” the West Orange school district is ramping up the random testing to three times a year for 50 percent of its drivers, de Mendez said at the Feb. 25 board of education meeting.

Testing can’t be done four times a year because the district’s drivers aren’t employed over the summer, de Mendez added.

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