Parents ‘beyond mad’ after 2 school bus drivers charged with DUI in same Georgia county

UPDATE: A school bus driver has been fired and a second was suspended after they were accused of DUI, Pickens County school officials confirmed. Driver Jeffery Tucker was dismissed and Tammy Decerbo will remain on suspension until the charges against her are resolved, Pickens County Superintendent Tony Young said in a statement Wednesday, Aug. 24.

Young apologized to the school community and said the district is reviewing its bus-related protocols, including additional training for staff.

“I can assure you that PCSD has zero tolerance for this type of behavior,” he said.

Original story continues below:

Parents in a north Georgia community are fuming after two school bus drivers were charged with DUI just days apart, news outlets report. Now, they’re calling on the district to do better.

Tammy Decerbo, 43, finished her morning bus route in Pickens County just before 8:30 on Monday, Aug. 22, when she was stopped and subsequently arrested after failing a field sobriety test, according to state police and Pickens County sheriff’s deputies.

A deputy pulled her over after spotting her gold Honda Accord weaving in the roadway and struggling to stay in its lane, authorities wrote in an incident report. Georgia State Patrol took over the scene after Decerbo identified herself as a county employee.

She was booked into jail on charges of DUI and failure to maintain lane. Authorities said additional charges are possible pending the outcome of an investigation.

Decerbo’s arrest comes less than three days after fellow county bus driver Jeffery Tucker, 59, was accused of driving drunk. Tucker was driving a bus with several students on board when he veered off the road and crashed in a ditch around 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 19, according to state troopers.

No students were hurt.

Tucker was arrested and charged with DUI, but not before someone at the district’s bus depot sent him another bus to finish his route after he wrecked the first one, state police said. Troopers caught him at the bus depot.

He was booked on multiple charges including hit-and-run, failure to maintain lane and 40 counts of child endangerment, according to authorities.

Officials ‘do not care’ about student safety, parents say

News of the drivers’ arrests sparked anger and concern among residents who voiced their frustrations with the district on social media.

“The school district has made it VERY apparent they do not care about the safety of our children,” one person wrote on Facebook. “I understand teachers and bus drivers are hard to find right now — but hiring folks who have no business being in our schools is unacceptable. Do better.”

Pickens County district officials addressed Tucker’s arrest in statement Friday, saying it “takes this matter very seriously.”

“Student safety is our highest priority and utmost concern,” officials wrote. “Once law enforcement has completed its investigation, we will conduct our own review into the facts and circumstances surrounding this egregious event.”

Parent Katie Lewis, whose son was riding Tucker’s bus when it crashed, told WAGA she’s “beyond mad” about the way the district handled the situation.

“There should have been another driver that took over, it should have been somebody else that brought our kids home, not the same driver that was drunk,” Lewis told the news station.

Another parent accused officials of trying to sweep the incident under the rug and said now her daughter is scared to ride the school bus, WGCL reported.

“It doesn’t make sense to me. Why do it that way?” Ashley Wilson told the news station. “Why go about it that way? Because you all were covering your butts.”

McClatchy News reached out to the Pickens County Board of Education on Aug. 23 and was told officials “have no additional comment” on the matter at this time.

Jasper is about 60 miles north of downtown Atlanta.

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