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Bus Driver Suspended for Making Student Do Push-Ups

TUNKHANNOCK — The Tunkhannock Area School District in Wyoming County confirms a bus driver was suspended after she admitted to an unusual form of discipli...
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TUNKHANNOCK -- The Tunkhannock Area School District in Wyoming County confirms a bus driver was suspended after she admitted to an unusual form of discipline.

Tunkhannock Area's school superintendent suspended the bus driver for the rest of the school year -- 14 days; but many parents say the driver should have been fired because of what happened Tuesday.

Amy Docalavich says her teenage daughter saw what happened to her 8-year-old son outside their home in Tunkhannock. The bus had just brought the boy home from Roslund Elementary School. Instead of going into the house, he started doing push-ups on the side of the road.

Docalavich confronted the bus driver.

"And her exact words were, 'It is not child abuse, it is called discipline,'" said Docalavich.

Docalavich called the elementary school, and officials reviewed video recorded by a camera inside the bus. Docalavich says it showed her son stretched his legs across the aisle.

Tunkhannock area school officials told Docalavich the district suspended bus driver Juanita Bolthouse for the rest of the school year.

"They felt it was very hard punishment, for her acts.  I don't think it was," said Docalavich, who feels Bolthouse should have been fired for humiliating her son, and more.

Docalavich claims the driver ordered her son to get on the side of the road to do the push-ups, and she says the location is dangerous.

"What if a car bypassed that school stop sign on the bus?  What if the brakes failed on that bus and it rolled?" questioned Docalavich.

Bolthouse made news in 2012. She was charged with animal cruelty when investigators found two neglected and starving horses on her property near Nicholson. A year later, she pleaded guilty and paid a fine.

No one answered the door when Newswatch 16 tried to reach Bolthouse for comment at her home in Nicholson Township.

Acting Superintendent Frank Galicki said he understands why parents are upset.

"At this point in time, we're still continuing the investigation," Galicki said.  "And we are strongly looking at all the facts in the situation."

Galicki says the district will review the incident, and make a decision over the summer on whether to suspend or fire Bolthouse.

The mother of the 8 year old says that after her son was forced to do push-ups, he's been afraid to take the bus to school.

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