CAMPUS INTRUDER: Schools offer no new details, talk safety with sheriff

STAFFORD COUNTY — Stafford County school bus drivers gathered at Colonial Forge High School on July 25 for a day-long safety training course.

County Sheriff David Decatur and his deputies provided training to more than 300 drivers, teaching them how to protect themselves if an adult forced their way onto a school bus filled with children. They trained for what to do if a child brought a gun unto a bus inside of a backpack.

They also drilled on what to do if a confrontation parent got on the school bus, and how to fight back, said Stafford sheriff’s spokeswoman Amanda Vicinanzo.

During the session, there was, apparently, no training on how to avoid picking up adult strangers and letting them onto a bus filled with students.

That’s what happened Thursday, August 15, when a Stafford County school bus driver picked up a 26-year-old man who was wearing no shoes and had no backpack, who was standing at an undesignated school bus stop in the county’s Lansberry Park neighborhood near Fredericksburg.

The man got on the bus and rode to Stafford High School where he then entered the building, stole a baked good from the cafeteria, and was later arrested by sheriff’s deputies. The unidentified man was not a threat to anyone, was not charged, and was taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation.

Today, a Stafford County schools spokeswoman would not say if the driver who picked up the man attended the July 25 school bus training. She declined to say for how many years the driver has worked for the school division, and officials won’t say if the driver is still allowed to sit behind the wheel of a Stafford County school.

“We have provided as much information as we can on this incident. It is important to provide a level of confidentiality for personnel matters,” Stafford County Schools spokeswoman Sherrie Johnson states in an email to Potomac Local.

The school division issued a written statement to parents on Friday, August 16, but it omitted the part about the man boarding the bus in the neighborhood and then riding the bus to school. Those details came in a press release from the sheriff’s office.

That letter, linked above, was also provided to Potomac Local.

“Stafford County Public Schools also provided you with a letter to parents. The letter had information about the bus,” Johnson told Potomac Local.

The letter also states:

“It is obvious that something has to change in our procedures and implemented immediately.”

Now, it appears, the sheriff’s office will be called in for more bus-driver training.

“…we have met with school staff regarding this incident. Our role is training—as needed, reviewing safety plans, enforcing laws, and school protection,” adds Vicinanzo.