CITY SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS GET RECORD CHECKS

Three private bus companies that serve Cincinnati Public Schools have
agreed to do new criminal background checks on all of their drivers
after one of the companies discovered it hadn't done complete checks.

That discovery caused classes to be canceled Thursday in the Columbus
public schools.

The background checks, requested Thursday by Cincinnati school
officials, will be done on about 450 drivers for the First Student
Inc., Petermann and Riggs bus companies, which transport more than
18,000 Cincinnati students.

First Student, based in downtown Cincinnati, decided to ground its
Columbus bus fleet after one of its drivers was arrested on the job on
a charge of cocaine possession. The driver also has three convictions
for driving under the influence in the 1980s.

When First Student learned about the driver's criminal record on
Wednesday, it began reviewing its files in Columbus and found that its
staff had failed to submit all drivers' fingerprints to the state for
processing, the company said.

In agreeing to the background checks, the Cincinnati bus vendors are
going beyond what is in their contracts, school district spokeswoman
Janet Walsh said.

"We are trying to be proactive in light of what happened in Columbus,"
Walsh said. "That extra step is warranted so we have that comfort
level and know there are not drivers out there who have slipped
through the cracks."

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann said that First Student has not
conducted required background checks through the state's Bureau of
Criminal Identification and Investigation for any drivers statewide
since August 2004.

Dann's office sent warnings to other school districts that the
required background checks had not been performed, his spokeswoman
Jennifer Brindisi said.

But the company claimed the problem was limited to
Columbus.

The Columbus district, which has about 56,000 students, planned to
resume classes today, spokesman Michael Fulwider said.

All but five of the company's 60 Columbus drivers cleared background
checks Thursday, Brindisi said.

"First Student is deeply sorry for any inconvenience this may have
caused parents, children and school officials, but we will not
compromise our standards or requirements of the law when it comes to
the safe transport of your children," the company said.

The First Student drivers did receive background checks, it
said.

The company said it found no evidence that any current drivers were
not qualified.

The 1980s convictions of the arrested driver would not disqualify him
from driving a school bus under state law, but they do violate the
company's tougher internal standards, it said.

First Student spokeswoman Jennifer Robinson said via e-mail that the
company was confident that it was an isolated incident confined to
Columbus.

But Thursday evening, Robinson said in another e-mail that, in
response to the Columbus investigation, the company had launched a
comprehensive review of all of its Ohio locations to ensure that each
location followed proper procedures.

Company officials at its downtown Cincinnati headquarters were not
available for further comment Thursday, and it was not immediately
known how many students and school districts it serves in the area.

The Columbus school district decided to call off school when it was
unable to find a way to fill the gaps left in bus service. The
schools' other buses could not cover all the First Student routes.