10 Investigates uncovered holes and vulnerabilities in the state's system designed to protect Ohio children from criminal school bus drivers. And now - our investigation is getting results.
There's a state notification system meant to automatically tell school districts when one of their bus drivers face criminal charges. It's called RapBack.
After we highlighted where the system is broken, both the Attorney General and a state representative are calling for a review.
10 Investigates uncovered instances where bus drivers were charged with assault. School districts had no idea these bus drivers faced criminal charges.
Undercover detectives posing as a teenage boy arrested Timothy Campbell in June 2013. Police say the Pickerington school bus driver wanted to meet a 15 year old for sex. Despite Campbell getting fingerprinted in jail, Pickerington Schools never received the state notification. The Rapback system failed. After media coverage of Campbell's charges, he lost his job.
This statewide problem has Toledo Representative Teresa Fedor pressing to fix these flaws immediately. "That's a high concern of mine and something I will be talking to the AG about and also my legislative friends who are working with me in this goal of making sure our children are protected."
The Attorney General's Office says a "technical malfunction" may be affecting the Rapback system. They add 10 Investigates' story "highlights potential vulnerabilities." The Attorney General is calling for a “full review” and creating something they're calling "Rapback 2.0"
"In a couple of months, we're going to have a better system. Where the information will flow immediately and specifically about what that person is charged with,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.
That information on criminal charges isn't currently given to school districts. But that still won't address other issues discovered by 10 Investigates. The notification system only flags drivers fingerprinted after charges.
Whitehall City Schools weren't alerted when bus driver Christopher Litostansky avoided jail with a court summons; and there are still bus drivers the system was supposed to catch, but failed for no known reason.
Representative Fedor pledges to push for fixes. "Making sure that we put in legislation, if necessary, and language to make sure that that process is followed because we have to be concerned with anyone working with our children."
The Attorney General’s Office told 10 Investigates the documents needed to verify the effectiveness of how schools are notified about criminal bus drivers are not public documents. But 10 Investigates plans to follow this story and will review the Attorney General’s fixes.
We also have a video showing how can review your bus driver's records yourself.