These are some of the 15 violations given to the Paterson bus company under investigation
PATERSON — The company targeted in the state’s recent school bus safety investigation received 15 violations between last July and December from the city school district for allegedly using drivers without requisite credentials.
The firm, American Star Transportation, has received more driver credential violations during the current school year than all the other bus companies hired by Paterson Public Schools combined, according to district records made public this week.
The Paterson district issued its first wave of seven violations to American Star last July 25 for allegedly having unqualified drivers on all bus routes bringing students to Joseph A. Taub School for a summer program, the records show.
City education officials issued eight additional driver credential violations to American Star between Oct. 18 and Dec. 1 for bus routes for students from Rosa Parks high school and five elementary schools — Dale Avenue, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Nos. 18, 21 and 27.
The bus operators in those cases lacked commercial driver’s licenses or certificates needed to drive buses or passengers, the penalty letters said.
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American Star’s owner, Jwel Khalique, and his brother, Shelim Khalique, were arrested by the New Jersey State Police on Dec. 20 and accused of conspiring to get contracts from public school districts even though the company didn’t have enough qualified drivers to handle the work.
In addition to Paterson, the state Attorney General’s Office has said, the alleged crimes involving American Star covered school districts in Jersey City, River Edge, Mahwah and Franklin Lakes. It’s not clear if any of the violations issued by the Paterson school district are part of the crimes alleged by the state.
The Khalique brothers last month pleaded not guilty to the charges against them and were released from jail. Their lawyers could not be reached for comment regarding the violations issued by the Paterson district.
The Paterson school district penalty letters say repeat violations could lead the district to designate a company as “an irresponsible vendor” and the cancellation of its contracts. But Paterson Public Schools has not taken such action, as officials said it would be hard to find another company to take over the American Star student bus routes.
“The contracts remain in place, and we have continued issuing fines,” said district spokesman Paul Brubaker. “Terminating contracts instead of issuing fines would only exacerbate our transportation challenges, given the national driver shortage.”
The district has imposed fines that totaled $23,000 for American Star’s 15 driver-credential infractions. That included 13 fines for $1,000 each for first offenses and two for $5,000 apiece for second offenses. Officials said they determine frequency of the offense based on the number of infractions per route, not per company.
Brubaker said the district has been deducting the fines from its payments to American Star.
Schools Superintendent Eileen Shafer has said the district is now conducting daily inspections to make sure American Star’s drivers have the required credentials.
“We have to do everything we can to put an end to this problem and make the company do what they’re being paid for,” said veteran school board member Jonathan Hodges.
Nakima Redmon, who was elected school board president last week, called the American Star violations “egregious.”
“But it’s a Catch-22,” Redmon said. “We still have to get the kids to school in a safe and timely manner.”
The school district has issued 11 violations for unqualified drivers to six other bus companies since Sept. 1. That includes three to Jersey Kids; two each to Best School Bus, J. Carpiolin and Trans Ed; and one apiece to Northern Star Transportation and Patrion, according to district records.
The district has issued 21 additional penalties to American Star for infractions including lateness, lacking a GPS or video camera on its buses, no air conditioning, having an unauthorized person on a bus and failure to drop off students.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.
Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ American Star Bus Company driver violations
