Crime & Safety

School Bus Driver Killed In Crash, No Students On Board

Parkland school bus crashed into building on Schantz Road.

A Parkland school district bus driver was killed when her bus crashed into the municipal building at about 8 a.m. Monday. No students were on board when the accident happened at 8300 Schantz Road.

The victim is , according to a source familiar with the school district.

Police say the bus side swiped a Ford Taurus and then swerved off the road, slamming into the building. Officials say a medical episode may have affected the bus driver. No serious injuries to the car's driver or passenger were reported.

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Parkland School District Superintendent Louise Donahue said no information will be released until the deceased's next of kin has been notified. The bus driver was a 10-year veteran of the school district, according to Val Strock, the district's garage foreman. Strock said the driver had just completed a run to Parkland High School and was on her way to Green Acres Mobile Home Park to pick up Jaindl Elementary School students.

The bus weighs about 18,500 pounds and is not equipped with an airbag. The only safety feature for the driver is a shoulder seatbelt.

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The crash caused major damage to the Upper Macungie municipal building. The bus plowed right into the office of township  Supervisor Sam Ashmar, who was not in the building at the time. The building had opened for business at 7:30 a.m. Nobody inside was injured.

Tonight's planning board work session has been canceled.

Township Supervisor Chairman Edward Earley said the township building is closed and secured. The township's public works crew is trying to determine how best to extricate the bus and whether the cinder-block building is structurally sound. Officials are worried that part of the building could collapse if a tow truck pulls the bus out.

Township officials may bring in trailers to use as temporary office space until the building is repaired. Preliminary estimates put the damage at $300,000 to $400,000.


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