Wilkes-Barre Area student left in van for hours Friday (original) (raw)
A Wilkes-Barre Area student was left in a van traveling to the Leo E. Solomon-Plains Education Complex for several hours Friday.
Anthony Grieco, the executive director of Luzerne Intermediate Unit #18, said the LIU coordinated the child’s transportation from home to the Solomon complex, which contains the Solomon-Plains Elementary School and the Solomon-Plains Middle School. (The LIU coordinates transportation for students who have certain disabilities or who are facing other circumstances that may complicate their travel to school.)
Grieco said the child was left in a van of Jare Services, a third party contractor. Jare manager Allen Martinez said Monday that the driver of the van in question was terminated the day of incident, effective immediately.
Officers from the Plains Twp. Police Department attended to the child at the school after being alerted to the incident. Plains Twp. Police Chief Dale Binker said Monday that the department had responded to assist ambulance services on the scene and had turned over the investigation to the LIU School Police. He referred further questions about the case to the intermediate unit.
Grieco confirmed that the LIU police is investigating the matter according to its standard procedures and said he could not provide further comment on the case or the status of the child.
Martinez, the Jare manager, said the company was aware of a police investigation into the matter and was cooperating with authorities.
The Citizens’ Voice left a request for comment with a Wilkes-Barre Area representative Monday and did not receive a follow-up response by press time.