The Appellate Division, Third Department, has upheld the dismissal of a school bus driver because of the poor job she did supervising all the drivers in her school district. Although Rita Thornton had an unblemished record as a driver, the panel unanimously upheld her dismissal by the Edwards-Knox Central School District in St. Lawrence County for her shortcomings as an administrator from 2006-2010. The problems included her failure to keep the drivers updated on their safety certifications and nearly causing the district to delay the start of the 2010 school year as officials scrambled to provide emergency testing for drivers.
The court also agreed with the school district in Thornton v. Edwards-Knox Central School District Board of Education, 515496, that Thornton committed even more serious misconduct by warning drivers of the dates when "random" drug and alcohol tests would be conducted. That lapse potentially jeopardized the safety of students, the panel said. "Thus, we find that petitioner’s termination was neither disproportionate to her conduct nor to the risk of harm it posed to the school district, and we will not disturb it," Justice Elizabeth Garry (See Profile) wrote. Justices Thomas Mercure (See Profile), Robert Rose (See Profile) and William McCarthy (See Profile) concurred.
