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HUNTINGTON — In Huntington, everyone knows everyone. But on Monday this trusting town learned a difficult lesson after a convicted sex offender stole a school bus and tried to pick up children.
Jennifer Gardner, a resident of Emery County, said that things like leaving doors unlocked is not an unusual occurrence.
“It's a small town. You don't even think about it, I mean, I know I’ve been known to leave my keys in my car,” Gardner said.
Now parents want to know why the keys were left in an unlocked bus, and why students' personal information was left in there too, putting these students in a vulnerable position.
“It scares me, it scares me to death,” Gardner said.
Kori Hansen said changes to bus security are a must.
“I don't think that should happen. I think that (personal information]) should be kept with the bus drivers,” Hansen said.
”If it's not already a policy through the school district, I am sure that it should be a policy,” said concerned parent Claron Durrant.
But the State School Board said it's not a policy, only a "best practice."
The State School Board also said that it is up to the district to create standards that secure buses and student information.
The Emery County School District denied an interview, but provided this statement:
"The District is looking at a system-wide procedure for key exchanges with substitute drivers … and the only address list on our buses is a list of the addresses of our bus stops."
However, in this rural area, the bus stops are often at children's homes.
“It takes an incident like this sometimes to make the public aware of what’s going on, and to push the people — whoever is in charge — to make sure changes like that are put into place,” Durrant said.
According to the Emery County School District, it is typical to leave the keys in a bus if a substitute driver is filling in. The State School Board said it will be looking into the incident to determine if any changes need to be made.
