School officials check driver credentials, find 3 new violations for Paterson bus company
PATERSON — The scandal over American Star Transportation’s alleged use of unqualified drivers for school bus routes has prompted special inspections that have resulted in three additional violations against the company since Jan. 3, officials said.
The infractions were found by district employees who are checking the credentials of American Star’s drivers as the buses drop off students at Paterson schools in the morning, a full-court-press monitoring effort that began at the start of 2023, officials said.
The district sent 16 teachers and administrators for training on making the bus credential inspections and has those employees check every American Star driver working for Paterson schools every day, officials said.
“Unfortunately, we can’t trust the bus companies to do their job,” said Board of Education President Nakima Redmon.
New Jersey State Police last month arrested American Star’s owner, Jwel Khalique, and his brother, Shelim Khalique, on charges that they got bus contracts from public school districts and then used unqualified drivers. State authorities said the company gave the districts lists with the names of drivers with proper licenses in the contracting process, but then switched to operators with criminal backgrounds or without state credentials for transporting children.
Beside Paterson, the company’s alleged crimes involved districts in Jersey City, River Edge, Mahwah and Franklin Lakes.
The Paterson school district has allocated $72,000 for stipends to pay 16 employees deployed for the American Star credential checks, officials said.
“You cannot put a price on students’ safety,” said Paterson district spokesman Paul Brubaker.
Before the attorney general’s arrests, Paterson schools had two people making spot checks of driver credentials for all 40 bus companies working for the district, officials said.
Earlier:These are some of the 15 violations given to the Paterson bus company under investigation
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District employees have no authority to enter American Star’s bus yard to make the checks before the vehicles hit the road, Brubaker said. But the company has recently retained former Paterson Police Chief Troy Oswald to do credential inspections at American Star’s yard before the buses start their routes, Brubaker said.
Last month, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Sohail Mohammed instructed the state Attorney General’s Office to conduct its own driver credential checks at American Star’s facility. Mohammed imposed that as one of the conditions for Jwel Khalique’s release from jail.
The company’s lawyers did not respond to a message seeking American Star’s input for this story.
American Star has $3.7 million worth of contracts with the Paterson district, currently covering 42 routes with 460 children and 17 schools, officials said.
From July 1, 2022, through the end of last year, the district had issued 15 violations against American Star for using unqualified drivers, according to public records. American Star’s driver credential infractions exceeded the total number for all other companies used by Paterson Public Schools.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.
Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ American Star bus scandal expands
