NRHEG school bus strikes car
Published 10:53am Friday, January 20, 2012ELLENDALE — A New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva School District school bus Friday morning on Minnesota Highway 30 rear-ended a car. No one was injured.
About three miles west of Ellendale, Brina Bergland, 16, of Ellendale was traveling west on Highway 30 in her 2010 Pontiac G6 when a 2007 school bus that was also headed west struck her, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. The report describes the road condition on the two-lane road as icy.
The bus was driven by Larry Jensen, 56, of Ellendale.
About 50 students were on the bus. According to the State Patrol, they were taken off the bus and loaded onto another bus, which then delivered them to school.
NRHEG Superintendent Kevin Wellen said he is glad no one was injured. He said the damage to the bus is minor and later Friday morning it was awaiting an inspection in the bus garage.
“Anytime there is an accident, we have to call in the highway patrol to see if the bus is operable before we can use it again,” he said.
The bus was shuttling from the district’s elementary school in Ellendale to its secondary school in New Richland, he said.
“We wanted to get the students out of the cold and into a warm school,” Wellen said.
Since the roads were icy should school have been in session? Will the Superintendent have the courage to admit that he, in part, made a bad call by holding classes when the weather and roads were bad? His statement regarding no injuries was NOT very profound. Will residents of the school district hold him accountable? Should administrators who show a lack of good, common-sense judgment continue to be employed by the school district?
Superintendent stated the bus damage was minor, but nothing was said about the 16 year old’s car who was struck by the bus. She too was probably headed to school.