Schools Plan to Check All Bus Drivers’ Records
The Los Angeles Unified School District is making plans to check the criminal record of every bus driver hired by private contractors if the state does not stiffen its own licensing procedures.
School board member Julie Korenstein said Wednesday that the proposed change comes as a result of the Jan. 16 arrest of Laidlaw Transport driver Harold Keith Lone, who was caught driving a bus in Encino with a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit. Lone obtained his bus driver’s license by using an alias to conceal his record of several criminal convictions, as well as at least four drunk driving convictions.
“We have to be absolutely sure that the people driving our children are the very best, without any prior criminal records or without any type of alcohol abuse,” Korenstein said.
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