The mother of a 12-year-old middle school student says surveillance video showing an Edmonds School District bus driver vaping with an e-cigarette on board the bus, proves what her son had been complaining about for weeks.
Lisa Davis requested the bus video from the Edmonds School District under the Freedom of Information Act.
The video shows bus driver vaping while he's driving to pick up students at 8:30 a.m. At times, the video shows the entire front of the bus filled with vapor.
About 10 minutes after the driver parks the bus, he is seen spending several minutes standing in the aisle, vaping between the seats, while the windows of the bus are closed.
"He takes a drag and he's blowing smoke rings," said Davis. "I mean he's really enjoying himself. He's clearly watching for people watching him, he knows he's doing something wrong, and it's minutes, sometimes seconds later before he's picking up kids from the school."
Davis' 12-year-old son Austin had been complaining for weeks about a strong odor that make him feel sick when he boarded the bus, according to Lisa Davis.
"It was definitely hard to breathe," Austin Davis said, recalling how he even confronted the driver himself.
"I was like dude? What's with the smoke? He's like 'Oh that's from the heater,'" Austin Davis said.
Lisa Davis said she wanted the proof because she says neither her son's principal, nor the transportation director took her complaint seriously.
"I'm even more upset now than I was before because now I have the proof," she said. "Before, I just had my son's word against the school district."
A spokesperson for the Edmonds School District told KIRO-7 the driver was suspended with pay, and is still going through due process with the district's human resources, and his union.
The spokesperson acknowledged that the driver appears to be violating the no smoking or vaping policy on school grounds -- which includes the interior of district school buses.
"They owe me an apology," Davis said.
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