13 Woodlawn students injured when bus flips
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Bevins

Administrators, students and parents from Woodlawn Beach Middle School are thanking their lucky stars that no one was killed in a school bus accident April 24.

Driver Jerome Bevins was allegedly speeding that Tuesday morning on his way to the school when the bus overturned near Shoni Drive and Dunsmuir Drive in N a v a r r e , striking a power pole and injuring 13 of the 42 children on board, Florida H i g h w a y Patrol (FHP) officials said. One child was briefly hospitalized for a head injury but was released from Sacred heart Hospital in Pensacola the next day. FHP released a statement April 27 that said the bus was traveling at approximately 40 mph in a 20 mph zone.

"All the bus drills we do during the year really paid off because [the kids] knew what to do," said Woodlawn's Assistant Principal Will Nowling.

Bevins, 70, was suspended from his duties and later arrested after the conclusion of the FHP's investigation. Bevins was charged with reckless driving April 27 and was held in the Santa County Jail with a $5,000 bond.

Bobbie Williams, local manager for the school district's transportation contractor Laidlaw, said that he could not comment on the ongoing investigation, but that his company typically uses a three-accident policy before terminating a driver. He said depending on the severity of the incidents, if a driver is responsible for three accidents within 24 months the driver is typically terminated. Williams said the standard procedure involves an immediate suspension and four hours of retraining for first time offenses.

"I've been here since 2002 and this is my first rollover. Most of the incidents we deal with are minor," Williams said while explaining the three accident rule. "You wouldn't want to terminate someone because they backed into a mailbox. There'd have to be more severe damage."

Williams said the accident was the most destructive he'd seen in his 30 years of service but maintained that the accident's impacts were mitigated by the bus' design.

"School buses are still considered the safest vehicles on the road," Williams said. The educational transit manager also said that the bus involved was equipped with seatbelts. However, Williams also commented that most of the children probably weren't buckled up because there is no policy in place that requires occupants to use seatbelts.

School District Assistant Superintendent Tim Wyrosdic praised the school faculty and parents on hand at the scene of the accident, saying, "It's a testament to the quality of the people dealing with the situation. The way they wrapped themselves around these kids was commendable. Our job as educators is to take care of children and they did a phenomenal job that day."