By: Bill Greenwood
MONROE A school bus accident Monday that injured 22 students and one bus driver has prompted the district to modify its Global Connect emergency-notification system.
According to a letter from Superintendent Ralph Ferrie posted Tuesday on the district Web site, the district will be adding new databases to its Global Connect emergency-notification system to address concerns from parents. In addition to the current databases, which are organized by school, the district will create new ones that will be organized by bus route. The current database was not used because it is organized according to school, rather than bus route.
"Through this process, we will be able to establish calling lists that will enable us to provide immediate communication should a problem develop related to a specific bus," Dr. Ferrie’s letter read.
The proposal comes after an accident at 9:01 a.m. Monday, when a bus carrying 30 students was hit from behind by another bus carrying 33 students, police said. The buses had been transporting students to Barclay Brook and Brookside schools, located adjacent to each other on Buckelew Avenue.
Police said the first bus driven by John Lizzi, of Monroe had been traveling west on Buckelew Avenue when it stopped at a house to pick up students. The second bus driven by Barbara Medina, of Jamesburg then collided with it from behind, police said.
The Monroe Township Police Department, Monroe Township Emergency Medical Services, Jamesburg Emergency Medical Services and Middlesex County Paramedics as well as ambulances from Monroe, Jamesburg, Spotswood and Englishtown and Manalapan were at the scene, according to police and a letter from Dr. Ferrie posted Monday on the district Web site. Dr. Ferrie said Monday that central office Board of Education administrators, including himself, also helped out.
"My main goal was to make sure the kids were OK, so I got on the bus immediately to keep the kids calm and assess the injury status," he said.
Nine students were taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, in New Brunswick; seven to CentraState Medical Center, in Freehold; two to St. Peter’s University Hospital; and four to Raritan Bay Medical Center, Old Bridge Division, police said. Ms. Medina also was taken to Raritan Bay Medical Center, Old Bridge Division, police said.
Dr. Ferrie said the students and Ms. Medina were taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure, and all were sent home by the end of the day. All injuries were minor and consisted of mainly cuts and bruises, Dr. Ferrie said Wednesday. He said in the Monday letter that district staff members accompanied the children to the hospital to provide assistance to them and their parents.
The rest of the students on the buses were taken to Brookside School, where additional nurses and guidance counselors were dispatched to ensure they were uninjured physically and emotionally, Dr. Ferrie said Monday.
Nurses and guidance counselors also were made available to the injured students when they returned Tuesday to Barclay Brook and Brookside schools, Dr. Ferrie said Wednesday.
"They greeted the children as they came off the buses," he said. "We wanted to make sure we gave them the support they needed if they needed any."
He said Monday the buses involved in the accident had seat belts, and Bernardette Kulakovich, a parent who witnessed the crash, said most of the children were wearing them.
Ms. Kulakovich, who had been waiting at the bus stop with her 10-year-old twin daughters, said the first bus, driven by Mr. Lizzi, overshot the bus stop, stopped and was hit from behind by the second bus, driven by Ms. Medina. Ms. Kulakovich and her husband then entered both buses to check on the students.
"Kids were crying and hollering," she said. "They were scared."
She said two children were bleeding from the mouth, but no students appeared to be in major pain. She brought ice to the two bleeding children, brought out blankets from her house for them to sit on after being taken off the buses, and allowed students to use her cell phone to call their parents.
She said she was happy with the response from the district and emergency services.
"They knew how to calm (the children) down," she said. "Everybody did what they had to do."
Dr. Ferrie said he could not comment on the accident’s cause because police were still investigating it. He said Wednesday any disciplinary action against either bus driver, both of whom are employed by the district, is a personnel issue. The district is waiting for the investigation results before determining what, if anything, to do.
He said the district did not yet have a damage estimate for the buses and declined to comment on whether the bus drivers were back at work. He said the matter was a personnel issue.
Detective Sgt. Lawrence Linke of the Monroe Township Police Department said the accident is still under investigation, and he could not disclose whether any tickets had been issued.
The district said in its letter to parents that changes in its communications system are being made so that it can contact parents on individual buses. According to the letter, the change is needed because the district could not send out a Global Connect message to Barclay Brook and Brookside parents Monday because it would have been received by all of the school’s parents. The district was trying to contact only parents whose children were on the buses and feared a Global Connect message would have caused confusion.
Global Connect is a Mays Landing-based voice broadcasting firm. The district hired the company in September 2005 to provide automated telephone notification services for the district.
When activated, Global Connect calls up to seven numbers for each student home, parents’ work and cell phones, and emergency contacts with a pre-recorded message from a district official.
In emergency situations, like an early closure or school cancellation, the service keeps calling until it reaches an actual person and that person presses the "3" key in response to a prompt. In non-emergency situations, like a change in venue for a PTO meeting or a change in time for a band rehearsal, the system leaves voicemail or answering machine messages.
The district also is considering a new e-mail notification feature being offered by Global Connect, according to the letter. If the district decides to add this feature, parents’ e-mail addresses would be collected to allow for e-mail notifications.
