the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, a week after New Jersey’s legal recreational marijuana sales officially started, Assemblyman Robert Auth and Assemblywoman DeAnne DeFuccio say they plan to introduce a bill requiring school bus drivers to undergo additional random drug and alcohol testing.
Tell your story #TheRidgewoodblog , #Indpendentnews #information #advertise #guestpost #affiliatemarketing ,#NorthJersey #NJ , #News #localnews #bergencounty #nj #sponsoredpost #SponsoredContent #contentplacement #guestposts #linkplacement Email: Onlyonesmallvoice@gmail.com
“Parents deserve the peace of mind that comes with knowing their children are in the safest hands when they get on the bus in the morning,” Auth (R-Bergen) said. “Our bill addresses gaps in drug and alcohol testing protocols and ensures every single school bus driver is being held to the same standard.”
Under federal regulations, school bus drivers are subject to annual random drug and alcohol testing based on the number of driver positions. Every year, 10% percent of drivers must be randomly tested for alcohol and 50% of them for controlled substances like opiates and marijuana. The new bill would expand that testing to 100% of school bus drivers twice a year.
“We have a collective responsibility to protect children, which will be more challenging as our New Jersey laws and attitudes toward drugs like marijuana evolve,” DeFuccio (R-Bergen) said. “School bus drivers are carrying our most precious cargo and our rules regarding drug and alcohol testing should reflect that.”
In 2019, an employee of F&A Transportation used heroin before transporting 12 special-needs children in Newark. With the students aboard, the 57-year-old driver overdosed, crashed and needed to be revived with Narcan. In 2020, a Paterson-based school bus company was charged with using unqualified drivers and aides and failing to conduct mandatory drug testing and criminal background checks.
To increase accountability, the bill also requires the employing board of education or contractor to annually file evidence of the testing with the executive county superintendent.
The bill would apply to all drivers of buses or other vehicles used by a board of education or by a private or parochial school for the transportation of pupils to and from school. Anyone who tests positive for drugs or alcohol, or who refuses to submit to testing, would be immediately ineligible to drive.
“More frequent and surprise drug tests along with stricter reporting requirements puts sober, competent and responsible adults in the driver’s seat. We will not let the safety of schoolchildren in New Jersey be compromised,” Auth and DeFuccio said.
Good , most of them can’t even pass the drug test. They should be tested every month. They’re driving our kids.
It’s amazing how fast some of these drivers drive these buses. Do you think the police would slow them down. Especially when he fly through the business section of town .
Your paying them $15.00 an hour don’t give me this crap about junior. There’s a huge shortage and now this. Good luck your gonna need it.
School bus drivers unlike other bus drivers rarely get to experience an 8 hour day.
So when you drive 2 hours a day you dont get much practice.
Most of them can’t drive a car, let alone a bus. (like the short yellow ones that most of our residents probably took to school when they were younger)
It’s amazing how many of our village employees road that Short yellow bus. The wheels on the bus go round and round.
*Attempts to make fun of someone’s intelligence
*Misspells “rode”