Montgomery County Public Schools employees received 1,622 traffic-camera tickets while driving government vehicles between July 2015 and January 2023, according to a new report from the Office of the Inspector General. A majority of those ticketed were school bus drivers, who were cited for speeding, red light, and school bus stop arm violations.

The county’s Office of the Inspector General revealed that the school district had paid over $148,000 in fines connected to those tickets. Most ticketed drivers reimbursed Montgomery County Public Schools for the cost of citations, although not all, per the report.

A MCPS spokesperson told WAMU/DCist via email that a ticketed employee is expected to reimburse the school district, and if they do not after 30 days, then officials deduct the cost of the fine from payroll. Additionally, the spokesperson assured that the district’s transportation department, which includes school bus operators, provides “the highest level of safety and quality of services at all times.”

It’s unclear how MCPS employees compare to other county employees because the OIG report does not look at citations received by other local government employees. That MCPS employees received over 1,600 — or bus drivers, just over 1,000 — in under eight years appears significant.

In a memorandum addressed to Superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight, Inspector General Megan Davey Limarzi says her office is “troubled” by the number of citations received by MDPS drivers, particularly school bus drivers who illegally pass fellow school buses whose stop arms are extended.

“We encourage MCPS to evaluate the causes behind this alarming trend and take steps to remediate contributing factors,” Limarzi wrote to McKnight in the memorandum accompanying the investigation’s findings.

The Office of the Inspector General says Montgomery County Public Schools have approximately 1,400 buses. (A MCPS spokesperson later clarified they had 1,430 buses.) Buses accounted for approximately 1,007 of the 1,622 total tickets (or 62%) the school district received on behalf of their employees in under eight years. Bus operators received 402 citations for speeding; 275 citations for running a red light; and 330 citations for passing another school bus while its stop arm was extended, according to the OIG report, which analyzed seven and a half years of automatic traffic enforcement data:

The OIG report acknowledges that school bus operators drive many more miles compared to their colleagues in other MCPS departments, which could partially explain why they account for the largest population of ticketed MCPS employees. The report acknowledges the special responsibility bus drivers have in transporting children and notes bus drivers receive “specific training on compliance with traffic rules, laws, and polices, and the safety of children.”

The report also says that they did not find drivers acting recklessly when reviewing 17 randomly-selected school bus stop arm violations. However, they say the recordings made evident that the drivers had violated the law by passing stopped buses who had deployed stop arms.

An OIG spokesperson told DCist/WAMU their office identified “a small number” of employees who had received more than one citation, although not all repeat offenders were school bus drivers.

An MCPS spokesperson says they follow a handbook of policies and standards for bus attendants and operators. “The policy affords every employee the opportunity to learn from mistakes and gain a better understanding of rules and laws governing the operation of school vehicles,” the spokesperson wrote via email. “Progressive discipline is the basis for the design of the outcomes for infractions.”

According to that guidance, a speed or red light camera violation is a major offense and penalties range from a written reprimand to termination. It’s unclear how many bus operators have been fired for their driving; The MCPS spokesperson says they do not have a confirmed number.

The OIG report encourages Montgomery County Public Schools to develop clearer policies and procedures to address traffic citations issued to employees operating government vehicles  The report says the process should specifically outline how traffic citations are assessed, paid, reimbursed, and contested.

The report explained how a lack of clear policies presents problems. For example, the school district’s department of transportation receives all traffic citations, but is unable to force other MCPS departments to reimburse it. Consequently, the department of transportation has outstanding debt totaling just over $2,200 and no way to collect it from the departments whose employees are responsible for the fines.

Another example: The school district is able to use its purchasing cards to pay for tickets, so fines get immediately paid and do not accrue additional penalties.  However, the OIG report says the school district has duplicated payments and failed to collect reimbursements, meaning “taxpayer dollars are incorrectly used to pay for traffic citations.”

This post has been updated to include further comment from a MCPS spokesperson, confirming the number of school buses as well as sharing they do not know the number of terminated operators.