Bus totaled, one student injured in crash

A Willow Springs R-4 school district bus crashed before school last Wednesday morning. The 68-year-old driver was travelling, “too fast for conditions,” and swerved on and off the road before ultimately crashing into a tree, according to the report from Missouri State Highway Patrol. The Highway Patrol has been routinely withholding names from crash reports for more than a year and refuses to release names in response to Sunshine Law requests or media inquiries.

 

In response to inquiries from Howell County News, Superintendent Dr. Marty Spence, wrote, “As a matter of policy, the district does not comment on personnel matters or release the names of employees involved in transportation incidents.”

 

According to a source within the school who asked the News to conceal their identity, the driver of bus number 8, the one that crashed Wednesday morning, is John Hudson. 

 

Without confirming Hudson’s involvement, Spence did confirm the board was scheduled to accept the driver’s resignation at the March 9 school board meeting after press time. 

 

Bus number 8 was totaled, Spence confirmed, but the district maintains spare buses, so transportation routes are continuing as scheduled.  

 

In response to whether or not the driver contacted emergency services at the scene, on Highway U in Texas County twelve miles north of Willow Springs, Spence responded, “School personnel contacted the highway patrol.”

 

One 15-year-old student’s injuries are described as “minor”  in the crash report. He was transported by ambulance to a West Plains hospital from school, not the scene of the crash, “out of caution,” Spence wrote. 

As to the financial impact to the district, Spence wrote, “We are reviewing the incident and any related insurance considerations.”