This afternoon a communication was sent out from Weston Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Karen Zaleski, about a School Bus “Incident” that occurred yesterday afternoon on the elementary school late bus northside route. The content of that WPS District- wide communication is below:

Late yesterday afternoon on November 16, 2023, an incident occurred involving the elementary north late bus, resulting in damage to the driver’s windshield. It appears that an occupant in a nearby car discharged an object at the windshield, causing localized cracks to the windshield.

The bus driver promptly pulled over and contacted the local authorities. The safety and well-being of the children on the bus were the top priority throughout the entire incident, and no injuries occurred.

In response to the incident, a spare bus was quickly dispatched to the scene to pick up the students and continue their drop-off routes. Parents were also promptly notified that the bus would be running late.

Local law enforcement is actively investigating the incident. While it is believed that a firearm was not the cause of the object, it is possible that a BB gun or some other instrument may have been used. The authorities are working to gather more information.

We want to assure parents and guardians that the situation was handled quietly and professionally by our excellent drivers and transportation staff. The safety and well-being of our students is of paramount importance, and we are committed to providing safe and reliable transportation services for all students.

While there is no immediate cause for alarm, I believe it is important to keep our parents and staff informed about incidents that occur and to prevent misinformation.

The Owl sent a message over to the Weston Police Department and Captain Tom Kelly called back almost immediately. The publicly-available details do not add much to the scenario described above except to add that the Police were alerted by the Weston Bus Barn (yay, Darlene!) at around 3:45 pm and the location of the incident was Lexington Street. The windshield of the bus was hit in the middle, not directly in front of the driver, nor on the far right side. The hit was from some kind of a projectile–could it have been a rock kicked up by a passing car (and there was one driving by at the time), or could it be a BB? That part is not clear yet–no BB was recovered from the location.

What Captain Kelly did say was the bus driver acted quickly, and extremely well to the circumstances. The bus was pulled over, and the Bus Barn called for a spare bus to come, and that the children were informed only that the bus had “mechanical issues.” So, yay for Weston School Bus Drivers–you are doing a great job!

The police are in active investigation mode. Statements have been taken, ring camera footage is being sought, and a call around to other local police stations netted no similar incidents in the past couple of weeks, though apparently a Lincoln bus got egged in a completely unrelated incident. If you have any information, you are urged to contact the Weston Police Department non-emergency line at 781-786-6200.