Parents still buzzing over drunk driving charges against school bus driver

Parents in Vanier Woods are still shaking their heads over a Red Deer woman being charged with impaired driving after the school bus she was driving crashed with students on board.

Eighteen children were riding the bus home from École Barrie Wilson Elementary when it ran into a tree and a sign before coming to a stop along Valley Green.

Shelly Kolodychuk, 42, is charged with four counts including impaired operation of a motor vehicle and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.

Tuesday, with a new driver behind the wheel, the bus was back out on its route. Also along for the morning ride was a representative with Prairie Bus Lines, the company contracted by Red Deer Public Schools to transport students, and Chris Good, Principal at Barrie Wilson Elementary.

Amanda Patton says her son Marco, who attends Grade 5 at Barrie Wilson didn’t want to ride the bus on Tuesday.

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“He wasn’t going to anyway,” she explained. “I need to know what safeguards they have in place, but he didn’t want to take the bus anyway. He asked me to drive him to school.”

Another parent who asked not to be identified said she did not hesitate to put her 7-year-old daughter back on the bus today.

“At first I was a little bit concerned as to why we weren’t told ‘Your kids are here if you’d like to come get them,’” she said. “But at the same time I think RCMP, the school division and the bus line did everything according to their emergency plan. As a parent I can’t fault them for what an employee chose to do.”  

The woman talked about how her daughter reacted when Monday’s crash took place.

“She was actually more concerned about the bus driver. She saw EMS checking out the bus driver and she kept saying ‘Mommy, I hope she’s okay.’ I honestly didn’t know how to answer her. She didn’t know how much danger she was in.”

Both parents are glad that more kids weren’t on the bus when it crashed and that no one was hurt.

Patton says Kolodychuk should be facing even more charges.

“She also endangered the lives of the however many children there were. The official report says 18 but she made four stops before she got here. So with [30] children I think there needs to be some child endangerment charges as well.”

Kolodychuk will make her next appearance in Red Deer court on July 12.