16 children hurt in crash with firetruck
By Marie Rohde and Alan J. Borsuk
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin)
Copyright 2006 Journal Sentinel Inc.
MILWAUKEE - The 39-year-old man who was driving a school bus that struck a fire engine Wednesday, injuring 16 children, has never had a valid driver’s license in Wisconsin, nor a required commercial license and a certification that school bus drivers are supposed to have, state officials said.
The school bus driver, Carlos Mayes, 39, of Milwaukee, also paid a $109 fine in August 2001 after being ticketed for driving without a license, according to Milwaukee Police Lt. Alan Johnson. Mayes was again ticketed Wednesday for driving without a license and faces the same fine if the charges are upheld in court, Johnson said.
Mayes and 17 others, 16 of them children who attend Elijah’s Brook God’s Nation Children School, 7429 W. Bradley Road, were treated at area hospitals and released. No one was seriously injured.
Johnson said officers were attempting to determine if Mayes had a license in another state and if school officials were aware that Mayes was not licensed. The bus is owned by the private school that is a part of the voucher program. School officials also could receive a ticket for the same charge that Mayes received if they were aware of his driving status, but police are still investigating that, Johnson said.
Joseph Maassen, a lawyer with the state Department of Transportation, said those who drive school buses are held to a higher standard than most drivers. They are also required to hold commercial driver’s licenses, and their licenses must carry a school bus driver endorsement.
However, there is no system in place to make sure that school bus drivers have the required licenses or that bus owners have insurance, Maassen said.
Driver had no license
According to Mary Jackson of the Department of Transportation, Mayes never held a valid Wisconsin driver’s license of any kind, but a state identification card had been issued to him.
Maassen said he had never heard of a case in which a school bus driver was ticketed for driving without a license.
“He and potentially his employer could be in a whole world of trouble, depending on the circumstances,” Maassen said.
An unlicensed driver, in addition to the fines, also could be banned from getting a commercial driver’s license in the future, Maassen said. The owner of the bus could have difficulty obtaining insurance, he added, and the owner could face civil liability resulting from personal injuries or property damage resulting from the accident.
Johnson, the police lieutenant, said it was unclear whether the school had insurance on the bus.
Engine had lights flashing
Milwaukee Fire Department Lt. Lawrence Jenkins said the engine was struck by the school bus as it was backing into its garage at 8025 W. Bradley Road at 8:12 a.m. The fire engine’s red lights were flashing and a firefighter was standing in the road when the eastbound bus struck the rear section of the $350,000 fire engine.
“Well, if it was a car, it would be totaled,” said Jenkins, when asked of the degree of the damage. “But for this vehicle, it’s moderately damaged. We have to take it to four or five shops to get some exact figures.”
Officials from the school did not respond Wednesday to a reporter’s repeated calls.
The school, in its first year in Milwaukee’s voucher program, was scheduled to receive a payment from the state Department of Public Instruction today of $125,794.35, but the payment is being withheld because the school has not paid back $3,250.50 it was sent in September for students who, it was later determined, did not actually attend the school, DPI officials said Wednesday.
The DPI practice is to give schools 45 days to repay overpayments from September once the enrollment picture is clarified. The school did not do that, DPI officials said. As a matter of policy, the state does not allow schools to subtract money they owe the DPI from money the DPI owes them.
Possible financial problems
In other previous cases, schools have either straightened out their financial arrangements with DPI quickly or they have faced major financial straits of their own. Some voucher schools have little if any other income than voucher payments, and withholding voucher payments can mean not paying staff on time and other problems.
The school could receive up to $6,501 per student in public money for this school year. The DPI says the school had 52 students in kindergarten through 12th grade eligible for the voucher program on the official attendance day in September. Because 4-year-old kindergarten students receive a fraction of a full payment, the school was listed as having 50 “full time equivalent” voucher students, which would indicate it would be in line to receive about $325,000 for this school year if it kept that enrollment and complied with state regulations.
New schools are required by the end of December to notify the DPI that they have begun the process of getting accreditation from an independent agency that examines a school to see if it doing its work in an acceptable fashion. New schools are not required to have accreditation before they open, although DPI regulations do require that school operators go through a training process on business and financial practices before opening.