“I’m feeling very emotional... I don’t feel like I needed all of this. I was just doing my job,” Wise said. “I do greatly appreciate all of the support, and this goes far beyond what I imagined to happen.”
State Rep. Bernard Willis, Clark County Commissioner Lowell McGlothin, Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Mark Murray, Ohio Department of Education Pupil Transportation Program Administrator Heather Free, Ohio Department of Education Pre Service Coordinator Evette Moody, several officials from Tecumseh, including school resource officer Deputy John Loney, board president Sue Anne Martin, board member Matt Mills, director of facilities and safety Brian Dixon, treasurer Denise Robinson, transportation supervisor Karen Lokai, transportation secretary Liza Heitzman, bus mechanics Steve Lokai and Josh Lutz, and the parents of the student involved in the incident all gathered at the transportation department to honor Wise.
“We were thrilled that so many individuals were able to come out and recognize the heroic efforts of our recent bus incident,” said Superintendent Paula Crew. “This is not the first time that a bus driver had to physically intervene to keep a student out of harm’s way. Unfortunately, cars routinely drive by our buses on a regular basis when the red lights are flashing.”
The Springfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating the incident, which happened on Feb. 23 around 3:21 p.m. on State Route 235 at the intersection of Quail Ridge Drive in Bethel Twp., according to the patrol.
The bus driver, April Wise, stopped to let a seventh-grade student off the bus when a vehicle went around the right side of the bus. Wise yelled for the student to get his attention then pulled him back by his bookbag before he got off the bus just as the car stopped.
“The only thing that went through my brain was to keep him from getting off the bus because he is one of my quickest students to get on and off the bus, and that was the only thing I could think was try and keep him from stepping off the bus,” Wise said.
The 2013 Honda CR-V, driven by Abigail Kemp, 21, of Casstown, was traveling north on Route 235 when Kemp swerved to avoid the stopped school bus, traveled off the right side of the road and struck a mailbox, the patrol stated. She was cited for failure to control and passing a stopped school bus.
Crew said she decided to share the video to bring awareness to this issue.
Crew added the Office of Field Services and Transportation in Columbus asked to use the video of the incident for training purposes as an educational tool “because April executed her training superbly.”
Wise said she’s very grateful the video will be used since you don’t normally get to catch those incident on tape.
“It’s kind of hard to sit there and show what the bus drivers go through, so I’m actually grateful that they did get to see it caught on tape,” she said.
About the Author
