| Calhoun school bus drivers issued citations to a number of Pleasant Hill Elementary School parents and guardians at the end of last school year, citing them for passing stopped school buses in front of the school, lights flashing, while loading or unloading students.
The names and disposition of some of the cases have been appearing in a disposition list issued by Calhoun magistrate court.
Calhoun superintendent of schools Roger Propst said, "Bus drivers activate their lights on school properties, mainly at Arnoldsburg and Pleasant Hill Elementary schools because there is no separate student drop-off and pick-up location at either school, such as there is at Calhoun Middle/High School."
Calhoun Middle-High School parents and guardians are required to load and unload students in the large parking lot behind the school.
"It is my belief that those folks who have been cited for this violation (at Pleasant Hill Elementary) were not deliberately ignoring the lights, but were probably confused by them being on while parked on school property," said Propst,
"Traffic can get very congested at these two schools, and children, especially at the elementary age level, can be very unpredictable, and could easily dart into the path of a vehicle passing the bus," Propst continued.
The code for buses activating their lights while parked on school property is West Virginia Code 17C-12-7. This section applies wherever the school bus is receiving or discharging children including, but not limited to, any street, highway, parking lot, private road or driveway.
"I encourage parents to be extremely alert in observing school buses with lights activated," Propst concluded.
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