In a letter to families, Superintendent Jeffrey Schoonover explained that a driver behind the school bus saw someone throwing several plastic bottles, commonly referred to as “nips,” out the window and called the Somerset Police Department.

 

Officers pulled the school bus over and questioned the driver, who acknowledged that it was her who threw the bottles out the window, according to Schoonover.

 

Somerset Police Chief William Tedford explained that the woman found the bottles in her purse and told the officers “she was concerned she would face scrutiny” if anyone discovered them.

 

“Perhaps not a great judgement call at the time,” Tedford said in a statement to 12 News.

 

Tedford said officers performed a breathalyzer test on the driver, which showed she had a BAC of 0.0000.

 

“There were absolutely no signs of drinking or impairment,” he said.

 

Schoonover said there were 14 high schoolers on the bus at the time. He added that Fisher Bus, which services the district, sent another driver to pick those students up and bring them to the high school.

 

“The presence of alcohol containers on a school bus, by anyone, is unacceptable,” Schoonover wrote. “Our students and families must have complete confidence in the people responsible for transporting them, and we take this matter very seriously.”

 

Schoonover said the district has requested Fischer Bus not assign the driver to any of its bus routes in the future. He also thanked the driver who was behind the bus at the time for reporting the incident.

 

See more at wpri.com.