MERRILL GONZALEZ

Bradford Area School District officials are waiting for a
written report from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
who is looking into why a rear axle on a school bus fell off the
bus Monday.

The bus was carrying 36 children who were from both School
Street and George G. Blaisdell elementary schools. The bus had just
stopped at GGB to pick up children there.

As the bus was traveling along Bolivar Drive heading east, the
rear axle came off and rolled to the side of the road.

The bus driver, the Rev. J. Richard Young, managed to keep the
bus in its lane and at least two children were injured, one with a
broken ankle, the other a bruised ankle.

At this time, said school Superintendent Sandra Romanowski,
PennDOT officials are taking a look into the cause of the
accident.

She said state police inspect the busses each year and added
that the busses had been inspected in August.

Romanowski also said that a team from Laidlaw Transportation
Management Systems are thoroughly inspecting all of the busses to
make sure there won’t be any more problems with any other
busses.

“As a precaution, they are going to replace the U-bolts on all
of the ’93-’94 busses in case there is something structurally in
that year that may have caused the problem,” she said Thursday.

The bus the axle fell off of was from the year 1993.

The school district contracted with Laidlaw Transportation to
conduct management, administration, dispatcher, safety training and
other services.

As for the report that additional students went to the hospital
following the accident, Romanowski said she did get a few calls
from some parents that their children were complaining of stomach
aches, or other problems and she said she suggested they take their
children in to be checked.

“I have not had anybody call back saying there were any new
injuries,” added Romanowski. “We are very grateful for that.”

A call to the Kane-based state police barracks revealed that
they are not investigating the incident.

The investigating officer from Foster Township was Timothy
Nicastro, who said Thursday that office is no longer investigating
the incident.

A reporter was directed by a PennDOT official to speak with the
Community Relations Office for information; the office closed
before a representative could be reached.