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By JENNIFER LEARN; Times Leader Staff Writer
Friday, May 24, 1996 Page: 1A
BLACK CREEK TWP. — A school bus driver trying to control unruly Hazleton
Area School District students caused an accident with injuries Thursday
morning, the district superintendent says.
Students, as well as the driver, could be disciplined because of the crash,
said Superintendent Geraldine Shepperson.
Stephen Gladis, 59, of Hazleton, could face a reprimand for allegedly
turning his attention from the road as he tried to deal with the students,
Shepperson said.
State Police at Troop N, West Hazleton, said Gladis lost control of the bus
when he “had to turn around and discipline a couple of students.” The bus
veered and collided with an oncoming car along Mt. Laurel Road about 7:15
a.m., police said.
Gladis, his 19 passengers and Edward Schoeph, of Sugarloaf Township — the
driver of the 1992 Hyundai hit by the bus — were all treated and released
from Hazleton-St. Joseph Medical Center and Hazleton General Hospital.
The bus contained junior high and high school students.
District Transportation Director Fred Mariano met with Gladis Thursday
afternoon to try to decide if discipline is warranted, Shepperson said.
Gladis, who could not be reached for comment, works for Zanolini’s Garage,
which leases buses and provides drivers to the district.
“If he did not have his bus stopped and attempted to discipline a student,
he was wrong and will be disciplined accordingly,” Shepperson said. She
declined to be specific about possible reprimands.
Shepperson said she won’t say what punishment might come for students,
until she learns what they did and if any are repeat offenders.
Last year, the district installed video cameras on buses to try to reduce
discipline problems. Because of limited funding, the cameras are rotated in
boxes so students do not know when they are being taped. The bus that crashed
did not have a camera in its box.
Shepperson said viewings of tapes from buses on some routes reveal that
students throw things, push each other, yell and act unruly in other ways.
“Sometimes their behavior is atrocious,” Shepperson said. “I think this bus
accident should be a signal to students that buses are not the places to
misbehave.”
Don Tombasco Jr., 16, a passenger on the bus that crashed, said Gladis
often yelled when students smoked, pushed each other or shouted.
On Thursday, the students were not unusually bad, just noisy, said
Tombasco, a sophomore at Hazleton Area High School.
Gladis looked at the students in his rearview mirror when he shouted at
students Thursday, but Tombasco said he did not see Gladis turn his head
toward the rear of the bus at any time.
Tombasco said the crash happened on a curve in the road. He called the
crash “glancing,” in that the front left of the bus collided with the front
left end of the Hyundai. He heard a loud bang, and the bus swerved, hit a bank
and jerked to a stop, he said.
Gladis fell to the floor of the bus, but Tombasco said he did not see
anyone else get thrown. One girl was transported to a hospital by ambulance,
but state police said all injuries appeared to be minor.
The 1983 International school bus sustained moderate damage, and the
Hyundai was severely damaged, state police said. A release from state police
did not say whether the drivers wore seat belts.
TIMES LEADER/LIL JUNAS
Emergency room personnel at St. Joseph Medical Center in Hazleton help
students off a bus early Thursday morning. The Hazleton Area students were
riding another bus when it collided with a car along Mt. Laurel Road in Black
Creek Township. None of the students was seriously injured.