ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Some St. Johns County School District parents are sounding the alarm after they claim the school district never notified them that their children’s bus driver was arrested earlier this week.
The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office arrested 36-year-old Edward Betancur-Zabala for soliciting a romantic relationship with a student on Monday. They posted the video of the arrest on social media on Tuesday.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
Action News Jax spoke with three St. Johns County School District parents who all had children ride Zabala’s bus route to Valley Ridge Academy.
Ashley Haskins has two children who attend Valley Ridge Academy. She said that the school district still hasn’t notified her that her children’s bus driver had been arrested.
“I was notified by a friend through my text messages who had seen the article and shown the article to her children and then also looked up the mugshot of the individual,” Haskins said. “They had showed it to their children who then authorized and said that ‘Yes this is our bus driver.’”
Action News Jax reached out to the St. Johns County School District and asked if they had notified the parents about the bus driver’s arrest. They replied saying:
“The principal at Pine Island followed up with a message to the parents of students who rode his bus the day following the arrest. As a criminal investigation, the SJSO notified the public and media.”
We followed up and asked her to verify that the bus driver also had routes for Valley Ridge Academy and Nease High School, and if those parents were notified by the school.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
They confirmed the bus transported students to those two schools, and added:
“ ... no those parents were not notified as the SJSO notified the public as a whole. Our director of transportation has responded to any individual parent concerns/questions.”
However, for Haskins and other parents, they say that’s not enough.
“Why would they not reach out to every parent who has the child registered to take that bus with that bus driver because the school has all of our emails and our information because we have to register it every year,” Haskins said.
Action News Jax learned that SJCSD sent an email to parents whose children ride the bus late Friday afternoon about the bus driver’s arrest.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
SJSO said if Zabala bonds out on his criminal charges, ICE has a warrant for his arrest, and will pick him up within 48 hours.
We asked both the Sheriff’s Office and the school district if he is here in the U.S. illegally, and if he had proper documentation to work for the district.
The district‘s HR department said Zabala was cleared last October through background checks, fingerprinting, drug and alcohol tests, passed all state driving exams. No Florida or FB criminal history was identified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, they said.
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
