Palm Beach County school leaders have voted to fire a bus driver who left a 15-year-old Suncoast High School student alone at a park 4 miles from the student’s home after he missed his stop.
Gerald Marston, now 69, told investigators that he left the student at Lake Lytal Park near West Palm Beach only after confirming the student’s dad was coming to pick him up. Marston, who has been a district bus driver since 2016, said he “thought it was OK to leave him.”
But the March 11 incident was infuriating and concerning to the parents of Tony Mancuso, who was forced to exit the bus in an area he didn’t know.
“I just want to know what the consequence is. The guy has to be held accountable,” Tony’s father, David Mancuso, said Monday. “If this were me and I had left my child somewhere, I would be in cuffs right now.”
Marston is not facing criminal charges for the incident. On Sept. 18, the school board unanimously approved his firing. If Marston does not appeal the school board’s decision, his termination will be effective Oct. 11.