EL MIRAGE, Ariz. -- An Arizona school bus driver placed on administrative leave after a bus ride got out of control last week has voluntarily resigned.
KPHO reportsthat the driver, who was taking kids home from Dysart Elementary School last week, was accused of refusing to allow students to leave the bus.
On Tuesday, Jim Dean, the assistant superintendent of the Dysart Unified School District, and went through the surveillance video from the incident.
"Their job is to safely transport kids to and from school, and in order to do that, students need to be following the rules," Dean said.
It was a typical, noisy bus ride home, packed with about 35 kids, after a long day at Dysart Elementary.
Once at the scheduled stop, the driver could be heard in the surveillance video telling kids to have a good night as they got off the bus.
Then, things took a different turn, as the driver began talking with the remaining kids about how they should not hit each other or scream on the bus.
At this point, their parents were outside, and the bus door was closed. No one was allowed off in the video.
As the conversation continued, parents could be heard pounding on the door.
The driver then told the kids they were going back to the principal if they didn't start listening to him.
And as the situation escalated, the driver actually drove off, and the bus erupted into chaos. That's when someone called 911.
Parents said they can sympathize with both the kids and the driver.
"When you're under a real stressful situation and you're trying to watch traffic, and then you've got kids jumping up and down in seats and running, being rude, and the poor other kids. It doesn't matter how much training you have when you're in that situation; nothing works," former bus driver June Baker said.
"That's not acceptable, because if the parents are there waiting for their children, they should at least know what's going on. That's really scary," parent Ayisha Buford said.
"I feel like the driver should have some type of authority, but not where they're going to make a decision not to give the kids back to the parents," said another parent.
So did the driver act inappropriately, or within his authority?
"We certainly would like to see our drivers let students off the bus in a reasonable amount of time," Dean said. "At the same time, our drivers are responsible for the safety of students both on the road when the route is in route, as well as prior to them getting off the bus safely as well,"
The driver has now resigned from his job. His name has not been released.
The assistant superintendent said this was not this bus driver's scheduled route. Instead, he was filling in on this particular day when the incident occurred.
No one was injured on or off the bus.
