Bus driver for Smithtown high school dismissed after seen drinking alcohol while on route
A Smithtown School District bus driver was seen drinking an alcoholic beverage while bringing students home Wednesday from High School West and was removed from the route, Superintendent Mark Secaur wrote in a message to parents.
District officials, Secaur said, “intervened immediately and bus company staff met the bus and driver at Great Hollow Middle School prior to dismissal. It was confirmed that an alcoholic beverage was on board, and the driver was promptly taken from the bus, and a different driver completed the route.”
The district, he said, notified the Suffolk County Police Department’s Fourth Precinct about the incident.
Fourth Precinct Crime Section officers are investigating the incident after a picture of an alcoholic beverage on a school bus was reported to police at 3:16 p.m. by a Smithtown Central School District employee, police said.
“We will cooperate fully with the bus company and the precinct as they conduct their investigation,” the superintendent wrote. “I can confirm, regardless of the outcome of the investigation, that the driver will no longer transport any Smithtown student. Our students' safety is of the utmost importance to the Smithtown Central School District, and we will remain steadfast in our efforts to create a safe environment for all our students.”
The driver is not a school district employee, according to a spokeswoman.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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