School Board OKs $50,000 settlement in bus accident

By Emily Richmond

Friday, Dec. 10, 2004 | 10:53 a.m.

The Clark County School Board voted Thursday to approve a $50,000 settlement offer to a Las Vegas man critically injured when his car was struck by a school bus.

The offer is equal to the maximum damages that state law allows in civil cases against public agencies.

According to police reports, the collision occurred Oct. 8 on Eastern Avenue at Eldorado Lane when the school bus driver failed to yield the right of way to a 1987 Ford Taurus driven by David Whitmarsh, 51.

There were no students on the bus at the time.

Whitmarsh was treated at University Medical Center's Trauma Center. He was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

Bill Hoffman, senior counsel for the district, declined to discuss the case as the settlement offer is pending.

Nevada Revised Statutes protect individual public employees from civil litigation stemming from actions taken during the "scope of their duties" and cap financial liability at $50,000 for public agencies in such claims.

District officials, citing employee confidentiality, declined to say whether any disciplinary action was taken against the bus driver, 54-year-old Sandra Scarlette. She was hired in August 2003 and continues to work for the district, officials said.

The Clark County School District has over 1,100 buses that carry more than 120,000 students on nearly 1,000 routes. District buses travel more than 50 million miles annually.

In the past 10 years there have been four Clark County school bus accidents that resulted in fatalities. Only one of those deaths involved a student -- in 1997 a boy was struck by a bus as he ran across six lanes of traffic.

The most recent fatality was in August 2004 when a motorcyclist died after colliding with a school buson Owens Avenue at Pecos Road. The rookie bus driver, 22-year-old Marvin Mosely, was carrying 45 children home from the first day of school. Police initially indicated Mosely may have been at fault but revised that position after interviewing witnesses. Mosely's current employment status with the district was not immediately available.

In March a school bus driver fainted behind the wheel, less than a mile after picking up 38 students at Vo-Tech High School. The bus drifted across Mountain Vista Street before crashing through a fence and coming to a stop just a few feet from an apartment complex parking lot. The driver and four students were taken to Sunrise Hospital with minor injuries.

Other actions taken by the School Board Thursday included unanimous approval of the name "Arbor View High School" for a campus set to open in August in the northwest valley adjacent to Gilcrease Orchards. Shadow Ridge High School, which opened in 2003 in the district's northwest region, also received approval to name its Earth Science Laboratory after Bill and Ted Gilcrease whose family began farming in the area in the 1920's.