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‘Loud Silence’ exhibit at Wilkes University’s Sordoni Art Gallery

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Mail-bomb scare widens as packages to Biden, De Niro seized

<p>WRIGHT TWP. &#8212; Crestwood School District will resume classes today &#8212; with a two-hour delay &#8212; following two days of being closed due to problems with proper clearances for bus drivers.</p><p>Superintendent Joseph Gorham tweeted the news Thursday shortly before 4 p.m.</p><p>District Solicitor Jack Dean said the school board has been looking at further action involving the transportation contract with Rinehimer Bus Lines, but declined to offer specifics.</p><p>Board President Bill Jones, however, suggested the board has agreed to end the contract with Rinehimer because the company failed to meet a contract requirement &#8220;to make sure that driver clearances were possessed and up to date, and that didn&#8217;t happen.&#8221;</p><p>For now, Rinehimer will continue to transport students. Dean said 25 drivers have either full or provisional clearances, and that six other buses will have teachers on board to meet mandates. He also said there may be more teachers riding buses than six, but that&#8217;s because the district asked for volunteers before knowing how many would be needed.</p><p>Dean also said the two-hour delay is the result of having teachers on the vehicles because they must pick up the teachers before they start picking up students. He also said the teacher volunteers will not be compensated in cash, but rather through &#8220;comp-time,&#8221; getting time off for the time spent on a bus. The union will calculate the comp time owed each volunteer, he added.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Where failure was&#8217;</strong></p><p>Meanwhile, Jones expects the busing contract will be terminated effective Feb. 1, giving the district enough time to get a new deal. He believes the board can issue a request for proposals from interested companies rather than put the job out for bid, and that bus companies contacted by the district said they would need 60 to 90 days to be ready to take on Crestwood&#8217;s many routes.</p><p>Dean has said the board can take action without a public meeting because this is an emergency, and then ratify the action at a future public meeting.</p><p>Dean has also said the board will likely work to find out where the failure occurred within the district. While the bus contractor is responsible for making sure all drivers have all required clearances, the district must make sure it has records of those clearances on file. This problem came to light when the state Auditor General&#8217;s office conducted an audit and discovered the district did not have the needed records.</p><p>Jones promised action on that matter. &#8220;After this is all over, we&#8217;re going to look at where the failure was. As a board we don&#8217;t want to micro-manage things. We pay our administrators to get it right and they didn&#8217;t. We&#8217;re going to get this straightened out and there will be consequences.&#8221;</p><p>Auditor General Eugene DePasquale issued a statement Thursday saying he is working with &#8220;state and local officials to quickly resolve the bus driver certification issues my audit team found at the Crestwood School District,&#8221; pointing out this &#8220;just so happens to be National School Bus Safety Week.&#8221;</p><p>DePasquale also praised several groups for helping resolve the problem. &#8220;</p><p>&#8221;I commend Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security Director Marcus Brown, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Department of Education for their ongoing efforts to ensure that all bus drivers who transport Crestwood students have undergone the background checks and clearances required by law.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Crestwood students to return to class Friday, with two-hour delay