UPDATE: The district informed LINK nky that discipline against the students may, in fact, be pending. The relevant lines have been updated. — LINK nky editorial, March 25, 2025.
Boone County school officials held a press conference Monday morning in order to dispel rumors that a bus driver used profanity and kicked students off of a bus last week.
During the press conference, the district showed a video showing the complete bus ride from Camp Ernst Middle School on March 20 in an effort to show that the driver did not do the things he was accused of.
Although the district would not allow outlets to record the video due to federal regulations around student privacy, the video provided a more complete picture than what was initially available to the public, especially as it related to the bus driver, whom the district said had become the target of unfair invective.
“The video does speak for itself,” Camp Ernst Principal Stephanie Hagerty said. “He never uses profanities. I’ve never heard him use profanities at kids. He takes on a lot of extra [work]. He’s been a good driver for us.”
Many rumors center on the bus driver’s alleged behavior, namely that he forcibly kicked students off the bus. The video, however, did not support this conjecture.
Additionally, the district provided more context for the situation. The driver was not a one-time substitute but a long-time driver filling in for another driver.
As such, he was not familiar with the route, and the two stops where he allegedly kicked students off the bus were, in fact, normal stops that had been previously eliminated from the route without his knowledge – the route’s typical driver had provided the new driver with the original route direction sheet, which had not been updated. Hagerty also said the driver had no history of disciplinary problems.
The video was 40 minutes long, exactly, and was pulled from a camera mounted above the driver’s head. In the video, you can see the driver, wearing a blue jacket and a white baseball cap, as he drives the route.
Audio from the video allowed viewers to hear the driver’s instructions over the bus’s P.A. system. The students’ voices were likewise audible, although their faces were blurred out.
Much of the back and forth between the driver and the students centered around the kids’ rambunctious behavior. Around the 7-minute mark, for instance, many of the kids started inexplicably screaming. It wasn’t clear from the angle of the video what might have prompted this, and a district spokesperson said that data pulled from the bus’ computer did not suggest the driver was speeding or driving recklessly.
About five and a half minutes into the bus ride, the driver told the students to settle down, or he would take them back to Camp Ernst for disciplinary action from an administrator. Students continued to raise their voices through the 10-minute mark of the video. Finally, the driver pulled back into the Camp Ernst parking lot.
“I do not have to put up with this kind of crap,” the driver said. “Crap” was the most vulgar word he used throughout the video. Never at any point did he use profanity or slurs.
“I can speak to the comments that were made about him and that he used profanities and kicked everyone off the bus,” Hagerty said. “Those just simply aren’t true.”
The driver waited a few minutes for an administrator to arrive, but none came out. The principal said an administrator on site had been alerted of the bus’ return, but she was far back in the building and couldn’t make it out in a timely manner. Rather than continue waiting, the driver decided to return to the road and complete the route.
Around the 17-minute mark, the driver stopped at the first stop that had previously been eliminated from the route and said that any student who wished to get off could. A long line of students filed out, seemingly voluntarily.
About two minutes later, the driver told the students to “sit down and stop screaming!” The driver stopped at another stop around the 21-minute mark, and another long line of students filed out of the bus. Although that stop had previously been eliminated from the route, Hagerty said, there was an apartment complex near it, so it would make sense that the students would be OK with getting off there.
After this point, the bus was mostly empty; only a handful of students were still visible on camera. Much of the remaining video was unremarkable. The bus was also noticeably quieter.
Hagerty said that the district played the video to dispel misinformation that had begun circulating.
“I think that the biggest misunderstanding is the actions of the bus driver,” Hagerty said. “He acted within a professional manner. He did not use profanities, he did not tell the kids they were kicked off the bus, and he didn’t quit. None of those things occurred.”
As it related to the student’s behavior, Hagerty said, “I do think that we now have to have accountability, even if you’re in middle school. These aren’t second graders. They know which stop to get off at.”
When Hagerty spoke with reporters, she said the students were not currently under any disciplinary actions. However, subsequent communications with the district said the district is investigating whether to discipline the students or not, but federal regulations would prevent the district from sharing the details if discipline does occur.
“I think that this is a learning moment, a teaching moment, and we really need to help everyone understand what’s appropriate and what’s the appropriate way to handle a situation like this,” Hagerty said.