First Student employee Christina Nelson, who is a driver for the company’s Ville Platte location, was involved in an incident on January 14 when an eight-year-old boy fell asleep on her bus. This incident became a catalyst for Nelson and a former employee to raise serious allegations of misconduct at First Student.
Whether or not Nelson is still employed with First Student is somewhat of a mystery to her, because she said no one has fired her. Beginning the Monday after the incident, another driver took over her route. She said on her company phone app, she is listed as being on a leave of absence. “I did not put in a leave of absence,” she said. “I did not sign any forms. A driver has to put it in writing if they request a leave of absence. I didn’t do that.”
The day of the incident, Nelson was going to drop off her last two students at James Stephens Elementary. When she saw the eight-year-old boy’s head pop up, Nelson said, “You fell asleep again on my bus?” She told him to get back to his seat so she could bring him back to school. Nelson said the boy had fallen asleep on the bus before.
Nelson has two young children who were supposed to be up and ready for virtual school that day. Her oldest child usually gets the younger children ready for virtual school, but that morning he was not feeling well, so he stayed asleep. When she had called him to wake up the other children, he did not answer. Nelson said James Stephens is right around the corner from her house, so before she brought the student to Chataignier, she stopped for a moment to knock on her door to make sure her children were awake and ready for virtual school.
Nelson said she did not go inside the house, but stayed on the porch where she could see her bus and then went back to the bus to take the boy to his school. She also called the school to tell them what happened, and she reported it to First Student. She arrived at Chataignier Elementary at 8:00 a.m., just in time for the start of school. She did admit that leaving the bus unattended with a student on board is a violation of the company’s policy, but said other drivers have done this from time to time, adding that, other than this incident, her record is “squeaky clean.”
In a TV interview, the boy’s mother said he was late for school and that Nelson has missed the stop at their home before. Nelson said the story the boy’s mother told to local television was “all fabricated.” She said the boy’s parents hardly ever have him ready on time for the bus. Further, Nelson said she has never left kids unattended on her bus in the context the mother said. “This woman has been a hell raiser for me for the last two years and First Student knows that, and they have done nothing,” said Nelson.
Nelson said the bus camera can confirm she arrived at Chataignier Elementary on time, and she wanted First Student to speak up for her and tell the truth, but because her supervisor, Hubert Mabe, allegedly doesn’t like her, “he’s been trying to find any little thing to use and switch it to try to get rid of me. This is my fourth year in driving. Out of four years, I only missed one day and a half. I am never late. I take good care of my kids. To do that to me really hurt.”
Questions of
Misconduct
This incident has sparked Nelson to reveal serious concerns she has with First Student. According to her, the company is allegedly involved in a number of unethical practices. She alleges they have allowed employees who do not have the passenger endorsement on their CDL’s to drive students. Also, she claims many of the drivers have a history of drinking and driving, even some with DWIs/DUIs, and are still allowed to drive students. Nelson added the buses are dangerous because the mechanics are driving the buses instead of fixing them.
Nelson also claimed a substitute driver, at a bus driver meeting last November, openly bragged about getting 11 speeding tickets in her own vehicle and getting them “fixed.” Nelson said the sub driver said this in front of a couple dozen people, including Mabe. Nelson alleged she smelled alcohol on the driver’s breath when the driver went to do a route. When asked if she reported it, Nelson said, “There’s nobody to go to. It’s a futile mission.”
Nelson also alleged some of the employees are racist, including Mabe. She recounted a time when a white parent called her the “N-word” when Nelson said she could not accommodate the parent’s child because he was not part of her route. When she reported the parent to Mabe, Nelson alleged Mabe ignored her. She claims one employee, who is in charge of training the drivers, is particularly mean to women of color and will often put off their training until the women find jobs elsewhere. Nelson alleges one bus driver is an “extreme racist” and did not want any black handicapped children on his bus and “detests his black attendant on his bus.” She also said this driver “has wrecked and flipped over his bus and is still allowed to drive.”
Nelson also claims some of the bus drivers perform side favors for Mabe’s personal use. “It’s never the big buses. It’s always the little handicapped buses, which is very creative, because who would question the use of a handicapped bus?” she said. “The only handicapped bus that should be coming back late in the morning and afternoon is the one that transports kids from here to the special needs school in Lafayette. All the other buses that come in late like that should be questioned.”
Nelson also believes Mabe plays favorites with employees and will allow some to bend the rules. “His biggest problem with me was that I was a very outspoken person,” said Nelson. She added some parents would not have their children ready for the bus on time, so sometimes Mabe had the drivers pass as many as four times to pick up the children. “I stopped doing it. When I stopped, those parents eventually stopped being late.” She added some of these drivers have secondary jobs because they don’t make a lot of money driving buses. “You don’t want to keep going and passing three or four times to pick up a kid because some of the drivers have another job right after they’re done. It’s like a prison system. You have these horrible kids on the bus, and First Student won’t do anything because the kids fill the seats and the schools get the funding.”
Nelson also claims Mabe “is a yes man” who allowed some parents to have certain privileges, and if the drivers did not accommodate, the drivers would pay for it. She said she did not want to give anyone special privileges, which allegedly led to Mabe treating her badly. She also alleges extra pay was withheld from her while other employees received their pay for extra hours due to more pickups because of the pandemic. When she asked Mabe for her pay for her 13 extra hours, she claims he told her they would have to find the funding to pay her back.
First Student’s policy when it comes to COVID-19 has upset Nelson as well. She said the drivers had to sign a paper saying they cannot tell anyone if a child on their bus has the virus. “As a parent, if some kid with full-blown COVID is sitting next to my kid, I have a right to know that.” When asked if students with COVID are supposed to be allowed to be on the bus and go to school, Nelson said they allegedly do anyway.
Allegedly, complaints fall on deaf ears within the company, according to Nelson. “We complain about this stuff, but even the chain of command is in their favor to hide stuff,” she said. “I’ll call it the family plan, and I’m not talking about a cell phone service. They’re all connected in there. Tony Vidrine, who used to be the district manager of First Student, he is now the regional manager. Tony is best friends with Hubert Mabe and is cousins with one of the mechanics.” She said several employees have interpersonal relationships and often allegedly cover for each other. “They all have dirt on each other in that office,” she added.
Further, Nelson said First Student has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). While First Student is not accredited with the BBB, the bureau does, in fact, give the company a grade of F. The BBB’s website states: “The BBB rating is based on information BBB is able to obtain about the business, and is significantly influenced by complaints received from the public. BBB seeks and uses information directly from businesses and from public data sources.
A History of
Concerns
Accusations of unethical practices with First Student did not start with Mabe. In 2017, a driver, who wishes to remain anonymous, was in charge of training other drivers and kept bringing up ethical behavior and safety concerns with other drivers to the supervisor at the time. In a letter the supervisor gave to the whistle blower driver, the supervisor claimed the employee’s behavior was “extremely troubling,” adding, “Daily, you accuse your fellow employees of transgressions [...].” The supervisor put the employee on paid leave and ordered him to take a fitness and psychological evaluation, which he passed with both the company doctor and his personal doctor.
The whistle blower driver then went to the Evangeline Parish School Board’s Transportation Director, Arthur Savoy, with concerns. He presented Savoy with a folder of letters from parents and bus drivers citing their frustrations with First Student safety practices, firing or running off employees for raising concerns, and issues with bus scheduling. Eventually, the First Student manager left, and Mabe became the new supervisor.
The whistle blower driver joined Nelson for The Gazette interview. He said he noticed the favoritism at First Student. He said his main concern was the safety of the children, so he took issue with the previous supervisor not giving the drivers enough training before starting them. “[The previous supervisor] was all about breaking my spirit.” The driver said the school board and superintendent are all working together and added, “I went through hell to try to get attention to those people.”
Nelson took issue with Superintendent Darwan Lazard, claiming she has tried to speak to him about issues with First Student, but claim he avoided her, not wanting to deal with the problem.
Officials Respond
Savoy was asked about the driver’s complaints in 2017 and said he told the driver at the time that First Student has to conduct their own investigation into any allegations. When asked about the driver’s accusation of the school board, Savoy said, “I am shocked by [the driver’s] response. I had several meetings with both [the driver] and [the former supervisor] due to frequent arguing and disagreements between them. I spent a lot of my personal time problem resolving conflicts between First Student’s company and their bus drivers. I even took a whole day off from work to facilitate an open meeting between Mr. Tony Vidrine, bus drivers, supervisors, principals, teachers, and the superintendent to make it better for the bus drivers.”
When asked about the current allegations against First Student, Savoy said he could not comment because he was out of town for a personal matter. He asked to be sent a list of the concerns so he could look into it. He added the drivers are not employed by the school board. “We are concerned with the students and bus drivers, but people need to realize First Student hires these people.” He also said Tony Vidrine is “a very good guy and always works with me.”
When asked if the board will consider renewing their contract with First Student, Savoy said the contract expires in another year or so, and the school board may consider looking into other companies and putting out bids. He added, “We have a good board and a good superintendent, and Mr. Lazard does have a good staff. We’re very fortunate.”
Lazard said he had not heard the allegations made by Nelson and does not recognize her name, but added he has an open door policy for anyone to go to him with concerns. He further said he does not recall someone named Nelson making any appointment to meet with him. He said he has met with the former whistle blower driver on multiple occasions and tried to take care of the concerns he expressed back in 2017.
In regards to Nelson’s complaint about not being able to report a driver with alcohol on their breath, Lazard said she could have alerted law enforcement. “I have never heard of any of those situations, and certainly if anyone had presented something like that to me or any member of the school board, we would have definitely taken appropriate action.” As for not being able to alert parents if a child on their bus has COVID, he said Louisiana has very strict privacy laws, and if an employee reveals a student’s information, they can be fined up to $10,000 or jailed for up to six months. He said now that he is aware of the concerns made by Nelson, he will “have some conversations with personnel at First Student.”
Mabe was contacted about the allegations made by Nelson, but said he could not comment. He referred to First Student spokesperson, Jay Brock. Brock said any of these allegations, if they were reported, would have launched an immediate investigation by the company. He said they perform regular driver record checks which would show any DUIs/DWIs. “If they are not reported to the state licensure, they won’t be on their record, but if they have been formally reported, we will catch that.” Further Brock said all of their drivers have the proper certifications outlined by state authority. “Safety is number one for us. We are carrying the most precious cargo out there.”
As for Nelson’s claims of racism, Brock said, “We don’t tolerate racism. That is simply not something we stand for in any way.” Upon learning of Nelson’s complaint of not being paid for extra hours worked, Brock said, “Our drivers are important assets and we want them to be paid.” He took note of all the complaints alleged by Nelson and has forwarded them farther up in the company to investigate.