Schools

Bus Company Transferred Driver to Different District After He Displayed Unusual Behavior

Scott DeiCas of New Canaan was fired by Weston school administrators months before Friday's standoff.

Officials say the New Canaan resident and former Weston bus driver accused of threatening people in town via e-mail and on his YouTube channel was removed from his job in September 2009 after complaints from parents about "unusual" behavior.

"He was less patient than perhaps he had been," Weston Superintendent of Schools Jerome Belair said of 48-year-old Scott DeiCas. "He exhibited some agitated behavior... We had complaints from parents and we asked First Student to remove him, which they immediately did."

According to a spokesman for First Student, Inc., the bus company contracted by the Weston school district, DeiCas underwent two background checks during the course of his six-year employment—one when Laidlaw hired him in 2003 and a second in 2007 when First Student purchased Laidlaw.

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Records provided by the New Canaan Police Department show that DeiCas was arrested for breach of peace in May 2004 after using "abusive and obscene language in public" following a motorcycle accident on Frogtown Road. DeiCas later pleaded guilty and paid a $250 fine. Bonnie Bastian, a spokesperson for First Student said she was unaware of the 2004 arrest.

Timothy Stokes, a spokesman for First Student, said the company's background checks are the most exhaustive in the industry. 

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"They often exceed state requirements," Stokes said. "Each prospective employee must pass federal, state and local checks for residency, work history and criminal records."

Belair said DeCais showed up to drive for First Student again in August 2009.  According to an affidavit unsealed by Weston police on Monday, school officials sent a written request to First Student on Sept. 1, 2009, requesting that DeiCas not be assigned to any buses in the Weston school district.  The affidavit states that DeiCas was then transferred by First Student to Stamford.

"The safety and security of the passengers we transport throughout the area is our core value," Stokes said. "We are working closely with the school district and local law enforcement as they complete their investigation."

DeiCas appeared at state Superior Court in Norwalk on Monday morning, where bond was set at $250,000 for felony charges including second-degree harassment and third-degree computer crimes for allegedly posting threats on the Internet.  He was arrested Saturday morning after a ten-hour standoff with police at his mother's home on Ponus Ridge in New Canaan.


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