Schools

Bus Co. Hires Firm To Conduct National Background Checks

School psychologists also sent home information on how to talk to your child about the situation.

Ocean State Transit, the bus company contracted by EG schools to provide bus transportation, has hired a third party company to conduct national background checks on all its employees, following the arrest of a bus monitor last week on child pornography charges

Supt. Victor Mercurio provided the update in an email to parents Wednesday. In addition, he said, Ocean State Transit will be providing its monitors and drivers with identification badges so that they can be identified by the community more readily. These actions follow a meeting with parents Monday that raised these concerns.

Also included in the email to parents was an outline fro how to talk to children about the situation. The letter is signed by the district's three school psychologists.

Find out what's happening in East Greenwichwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Here's an excerpt from the letter from the psychologists:

Find out what's happening in East Greenwichwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"First, as best you can, isolate your child from the facts of the situation and approach conversations with open-ended questions. If your child simply asks “Where is my bus driver?” simply answer, “He doesn’t drive the bus anymore. Sometimes jobs change.” If you believe that your child has more information regarding the situation, ask “What do you know about the changes on Bus 2?” and respond only at the level of information that he/she offers, without adding details or concerns of which your child unaware. If your child has a high level of awareness, acknowledge the issue but also emphasize the response of the adults to protect them. State that there are people who make bad choices and shouldn’t be working with kids, but there are also adults (mom/dad, teachers, principals, police officers) who step in and take care of the situation. This may reassure your child that s/he is safe.

"Second, it is a good time to talk about levels of trust. We all may have spoken to our children in generalities about “Stranger Danger,” but this is a good time to specify the nature of their relationships with familiar adults. For example, whom do we hug? Kiss? High 5? Allow to touch us in any way? Who do we accept gifts from? Unexpected rides from? And also whom we don’t. What do they do if someone is acting outside of those expectations? I have done this with children in a simple graph form of concentric circles, which I have attached. Also note, attached are websites that may be of additional interest to you.

"Every family will choose to approach the situation in a different way, therefore responses are quite individualized. This is why, as school counselors, we are not advocating for group intervention/discussions at the school level. It is inappropriate to raise a potentially distressing topic within the routine of the neutral and predictable school day. It is also a forum whereby children’s reactions may exacerbate each other’s worry and stress level. Given this, We are available to any family who has specific questions or would like one of us to sit with a parent/child for a discussion."

Nora Santamour, Ph.D., CSP Meadowbrook/Hanford School Psychologist 398-1260; Tim Dwyer, MA, CAGS Frenchtown/Eldredge School Psychologist 398-1362; and Michelle Pelletier, MA, CAGS Pre-School/Cole School Psychologist 398-1408 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here