It took just five minutes for the Marietta School Board to come to their decision to fire Marietta School bus driver Shaentha Mitchell. The September 12th incident was caught on video from a student’s cell phone and later posted to You Tube.
The students were en route from Marietta High School and the route she was driving wasn’t an easy task according to Mitchell, “They knew it was a troubled route when they gave it to me,” Mitchell said. According to an investigative report, Mitchell didn’t contact transportation officials soon enough after the incident.
According to the AJC
Mitchell stopped the bus in the turning lane of Roswell Road to document a few students’ misbehavior. School officials have said some students got impatient, and this led to more misbehavior.
Rather than continuing the route, Mitchell said she pulled into the shopping center because she thought it was the safest place to stop.
Several students were disciplined, including five who were removed from riding the school bus for the remainder of the school year.
In May, Mitchell was ticketed by the Georgia State Patrol for an unsafe lane change while driving the bus on a field trip. The lane change caused a multi vehicle accident, but no injuries.
Veteran board member Jeanie Carter, who cast the vote against firing Mitchell, wouldn’t comment on the incident.
But she did raise the issue of school buses needing monitors to assist with discipline issues on the bus.
Carter asked outloud, “What makes you think they’re gonna be angels on that bus if they’re not in the classroom?”
