It turns out a missing wallet that finally turned up and returned to its owner had been riding on a Michigan school bus for four years.
Alex Fernandez misplaced the wallet his freshman year of high school.
“I was just kind of curious whatever happened to it,” he said, adding that the details of losing it were hazy. What he does remember is freaking out.
“When I got home, I was panicking that I couldn’t find it and it had my instructional permit in there and so I needed that,” Fernandez said.
Recently, his family got a message from the Cedar Rapids School district saying a mechanic had found it.
“I was actually fixing the heaters on the bus, I pulled the one heater loose and the wallet was wedged underneath the heater,” Frank Stephenson said, adding that he was just doing his job.
“If we find something we turn it in and they try to get it to the proper parents or the person that owns it and it’s only the right thing to do after,” he said. “You don’t know if the student has been looking for it and how long,”.
Even though there was only seven dollars and a few old IDs in the wallet, Alex said he is grateful it was returned to him.
“I kind of thought at first you know someone just found it took the money and stuff out of it and tossed it,” he added. “It’s kind of different to find out someone actually took the time to return it and make sure I got it and it kind of shows there’s still some honest people out there I guess.”
An Alabama school bus driver diagnosed with heart failure received overwhelming support to get better. During the school year, Andy Thrower spends his mornings and afternoons driving a. He’s been behind the wheel of a Hoover City School bus for roughly seven years now.
A few months ago, Thrower found out he had 30,000 extra heartbeats over a 24-hour period. His doctors diagnosed him with heart failure.
Doctors would have to go in and burn the area of his heart that was causing the extra heartbeats. It was something, doctors say, he probably had since birth that’s gotten worse over the years.
His disorder finally stopped him in his tracks after Thanksgiving when he underwent heart surgery.
Recovery time took him from his part-time job for several weeks and he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to make up the lost days.
He decided to go on Facebook and asked if any of his friends had any sick days they could donate. The response was overwhelming.
“I didn’t necessarily think that it was going to receive a 100 different shares and multiple people reaching out to me offering to donate days, I was just trying to see if there were some folks that knew some other folks or maybe a teacher or maybe another bus driver,” said Thrower.
Suddenly, people from all over the state were contacting Hoover City Schools to donate their sick days to Thrower
“I’m grateful for the 15 to 20 days that people gave me, but there’s a lot of people who have it a lot worse and this sick leave bank benefits them as much or more,” Thrower said.
Thrower credited the sick leave bank program through the Alabama Department of Education that allowed him to get those donated sick days. He hopes other employees learn about the program because it could help people who are even worse off than him.
A West Virginia school system is mourning the death of a former bus driver.
Dwyane Adkins, 53, was killed in a head-on crash on New Year’s Eve. Adkins retired last year, according to Lincoln County Schools Transportation Director Rod Cummings.
“He did a good job for us,” Cummings said. “He worked and took care of the kids on the bus. He was just a decent employee for us.”
Police said Adkins’ vehicle went across the center line and into the path of an oncoming vehicle. Two other people were critically injured, including Adkins’ wife, Mary. She is being treated at an area hospital where authorities said she’s on a ventilator.
The driver of the other car shattered one of his legs, but is expected to make a full recovery. Police are investigating, but said they don’t believe drug or alcohol were a factor in the crash.
Cummings said the loss of a school district employee is heartbreaking.
“Just goes to show that anything can happen at any time,” he said. “You have to really be cautious. I don’t know of any of the details about the accident, but I do know that every time you get on the road, we’re taking our lives in our hands.”
A Wisconsin school bus driver stands accused of driving students while on drugs and carrying a firearm.
Brookfield police stopped the Penny Wolf just after she dropped off the students at school after reports she was driving erratically, and complaints from parents and school staff members.
Police said she was impaired and had a concealed handgun.
The 43-year-old bus driver now faces a number of charges.
“We anticipate providing families and staff with regular transportation updates in the coming weeks as information becomes available,” Elmbrook School District officials said. “This issue has brought to light an array of concerns with First Student that we will work to address immediately, while evaluating the District’s long-term relationship with our transportation provider.”
School officials met with First Student bus company representatives, First Student reporting that Wolf had been a driver for a year-and-a-half, and passed a background check.
