Parents Raise Concerns Over District’s Response Following Bus Crash

Three parents of Harry S. Truman High School students who were on a bus that was involved in a crash with a pickup truck have raised concern over the district’s reaction.

On Tuesday, Bristol Township School District bus 43 was involved in a crash on Ford Road near Hilltop Avenue around 6:45 a.m. Police said a pickup truck struck a utility pole and the bus, causing the pickup to flip onto its side and trap the driver. The bus came to rest with utility lines hanging over it.

Police, firefighters, and medics arrived to the crash scene and transferred the 35 students on the damaged bus to a second bus that took them to the high school after an on-scene “initial assessment,” according to the school district and officials on the scene.

Firefighters freed the pickup driver, who suffered injuries and survived.

Police said in a statement that crash may have been caused by a medical condition, but the investigation remained active.

School district spokespeople told LevittownNow.com that parents were notified of the crash by phone call. However, they later stated one parent told the district they did not receive a call.

Cathy Newman, whose 15-year-old daughter was on the bus, said she is the parent who was not notified by the district. The Bristol Township woman, who works as a contractor at a local school, said she learned of the crash after a friend saw a TV news report around 8:30 a.m. and alerted her. She then ended up talking to her daughter via phone and had her examined by the school nurse, who released the teen to Newman for transportation to the hospital.

The girl went to the St. Mary Medical Center emergency room and was told by a doctor that she suffered whiplash, which kept her home from school on Wednesday as she recovered.

“There was no call from the district, and I had to call the transportation department that afternoon,” Newman said, adding her daughter disputed a district claim a nurse met the bus once it arrived at the high school.

Newman said her daughter relayed that a high school administrator met her and the other students involved in the crash and offered the services of the nurse and counselors, but her daughter was still in shock the crash happened.

Newman said the students should have been examined at the high school before being released to classes.

The district said two high schoolers were picked up by their parents before the nurse had a chance to assess them.

“My daughter has never been in a crash and the doctor said with adrenaline she may not have felt whiplash right then,” Newman said.

The two other parents, who both did not want their names published, raised concern that it took more than an hour for them to be alerted of the bus crash. One mother said she became aware of the crash after seeing social media posts and eventually a LevittownNow.com article.

“What happened if my child was hurt?” the mother wondered, noting the district has an automated call system.

“This was handled very poorly and this needs to change. The school district did not handle this correctly,” Newman said. 

All three parents said they have no intention of seeking legal recourse, but urged the district to improve how incidents are handled.

Anyone with information on the crash has been asked by police to contact Sgt. Mark Titus at 267-812-2995.

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