A city audit published April 4 found that Pre-K 4 SA, the city’s early childhood initiative, didn’t have adequate screening procedures in place for its bus drivers.
Pre-K 4 SA contracts with Star Shuttle, Inc. to provide morning and afternoon transportation services for students in the program, which serves roughly 2,000 students.
The audit said the program’s leaders couldn’t prove that drivers had met the qualification requirements, such as having passed a background check or provided a notarized affidavit saying they hadn’t pleaded guilty to any crime or been reported for child abuse or neglect.
“While the audit team was able to obtain a spreadsheet attesting a background verification had been passed, we were unable to obtain further support documentation (such as a background check) to confirm a verification had indeed been performed and successfully passed for 15/15 drivers,” it said.
Of the 15 drivers the audit screened, one also did not have a valid commercial driver’s license on file.
“Pre-K 4 SA has adequate policies in place as it pertains to emergency procedures and bus monitor responsibilities,” the audit says. However, it “does not have adequate controls in place to confirm bus driver qualifications are met.”
The City Council’s Audit Committee is scheduled to review the report Tuesday. That discussion comes on the heels of two high-profile crashes involving Pre-K 4 SA buses this month.
Last Wednesday, a road rage incident caused a crash involving a Pre-K 4 SA bus on the West Side on Highway 90. The bus empty at the time, headed to pick up students for a field trip, according to KSAT.
Earlier this month another Pre-K 4 SA bus crashed on the North Side after a hydroplaning incident. That bus was carrying 39 children and eight teachers, none of whom were badly injured.
Pre-K 4 SA CEO Sarah Baray and Assistant City Manager Alex Lopez signed a corrective action plan on March 28 stating that the city’s Human Resources Department would start conducting the background checks for Star Shuttle’s drivers, and that the company must alert the city when new drivers are hired.
Additionally, drivers must be cleared by the Texas Department of Family Services.
The corrective action plan shows those steps marked complete on March 4. The city did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
The audit’s review of emergency procedures found that the program has sufficient procedures in place for how to handle emergency breakdowns or accidents. The buses were “equipped with adequate safety equipment” and bus monitors who ride with the children have clear instructions about how to handle the situations.
