A dispute Monday afternoon on a late bus serving Wellesley Middle School and High School students sparked a call to the police and a little noise on social media, but the School Department says the matter was sorted out without anyone’s safety being compromised.
The school system issued a note to parents of students who take the bus near the route in question that stated a dispute took place over a bus stop on the route. “This precipitated a call to the Wellesley Police Department and the WPS Transportation office, who responded to the scene. A replacement bus was called in to transport remaining students home and all students arrived safely at their destination. We take the safe and responsible transportation of our students very seriously and, as such, we will be following up to make sure procedures and protocols for both the students and the driver were followed. We will take any appropriate action as necessary.”
We first noticed mention of the incident late Monday on Twitter, where a user referred to an armed kidnapping attempt being foiled on the bus. But we figured it was bogus when we saw nothing from the police or school department, and because the local media hadn’t swarmed the town.
We also noticed a brief string about the incident on Reddit, where users identifying themselves as Wellesley school parents or friends of parents chimed in. One explained that a substitute bus driver missed some stops, upsetting the kids and sparking a yelling match. The Redditor says the bus driver handled it “horribly” but that it wasn’t any sort of kidnapping attempt. Another referred to lots of swearing and crying, plus some damage to the bus.
Wellesley Police referred us to the School Department when we inquired, so it sounds as though there weren’t any gun charges involved.