A school bus company that has been operating without insurance for nearly five years has been transporting Chicago students around the area, an NBC 5 Responds investigation found.
The investigation prompted the Illinois Secretary of State's office to take action towards getting the buses, operated by Culvers Transportation, off the road.
Culvers Transportation owns nine school buses and provides services for multiple districts in the Chicago area.
The lack of insurance for the bus companies went on to have a major impact in the life of a young driver.
Jacob Kusar was a licensed driver for less than six months before an accident with a bus changed his life.
"I looked behind me and I saw the bus, and there was no glass in my rear windshield," Kusar said.
Kusar had just started his dream job, working at a car dealership in downtown Chicago, when he was rear-ended by a school bus owned by Culvers Transportation on his way home from work on Memorial Day.
“I'm, I'm dizzy and I'm and I'm feeling sick. I don't know what's around me,” Kusar said.
Kusar was born with scoliosis and hip dysplasia, leading the injuries sustained in the collision to take a pronounced toll on his mobility.
“We were well aware that he was going to have issues for the rest of his life. We just didn't expect them to accelerate this quick because it's somebody else's carelessness,” Sharon Kusar, Jacob’s mother said.
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NBC 5 Responds
Kusar immediately filed an insurance claim with Culvers' insurance company, Sedgwick. The claim was quickly denied however, as Culvers' policy had been cancelled nearly six months before the collision.
Over the following month, documents revealed there were more than two dozen attempts to receive updated insurance information from Sheri Culver, the owner of the school bus company.
“Two and a half months in, [Culver] finally says ‘I'm, self insured, I got you.’ We get the letter from the insurance company saying she's willing to pay for all damages,” Kusar said.
Despite this assurance, the family received radio silence in return.
In the meantime, Kusar's bills continued to soar, accumulating over $30,000 in medical bills and more than $23,000 in car repair and storage costs.
Without Culvers' insurance information or confirmation that the transportation company was in fact uninsured, Kusar's insurance company would not cover many of the costs.
“[Culver] has taken everything from us. Every day it feels like more and more she just keeps taking because we keep getting charged with those bills,” Sharon Kusar said.
When Kusar spotted another Culvers bus transporting students in her neighborhood, she contacted NBC 5 Responds for help.
"It just broke my heart to think that they're still out there after his accident, knowing they're uninsured," Kusar said.
It turns out, she was right to be concerned.
In 2017, the company was barred from doing business with Chicago Public Schools due to numerous failed state safety inspections, a lack of "cross arms and emergency door handles" and "cracked windshields and shredded tires" on several of their buses, NBC 5 Responds found.
We also found several other school districts were still using Culvers to transport children, including the De La Salle Institute and Akiba Schechter Jewish Day School.
The buses were also spotted picking up students at the Chicago High School for Arts, which is a CPS charter school.
In a statement, CPS referred NBC 5 Responds to their charter schools to inquire about transportation partners.
However, after our investigation aired, CPS send us NBC 5 Responds the following statement: 'Charters are transporting Chicago students, MUST use our APPROVED bus vendors for student transportation. For risk purposes, they should not be using non-CPS-approved bus vendors, especially ones that have been debarred.'
CPS Senior Press Secretary Sylvia Barragan said she would look into the matter and find out why the Chicago High School for the Arts was using the disbarred bus service.
Upon urging from NBC 5 Responds, the Illinois Secretary of State's office themselves reached out to Culvers Transportation for proof of insurance.
When Culvers failed to provide proof of insurance to the Secretary of State earlier this month, the registration for all nine of Culvers' buses was revoked.
After sharing the results of our investigation with Kusar's insurance company, they agreed to cover the family's costs under their uninsured motorist coverage.
"I just want her to be responsible for what she did so it doesn't happen to anybody else," Sharon Kusar said.
Culver told NBC 5 Responds over phone that she never received any documentation from the Kusar's, despite evidence from their insurance company proving otherwise.
Culver said she is insured, but wouldn't provide any other details. According to the Illinois Secretary of State's office, no updated insurance information from Culver has been received.
NBC 5 Responds also wanted to know if the schools using Culvers were aware of the company's safety record upon hiring. Some of the schools denied they had ever hired Culvers, despite documentation proving otherwise.
When presented with state documents proving knowledge of the hiring, some school administrations hung up the phone.
Despite repeated follow-ups with each school district that had used Culvers, only one provided a comment for this story. After our investigation was published, the Director of Operations for Akiba Schechter Jewish Day School told us they no longer use Culvers Transportation.
Last week, the Secretary of State’s office sent letters to each school district that may be using Culvers Transportation to inform them that the registration of all of their buses has been revoked. The office called “Culvers Transportation’s apparent negligence” on the matter “deeply troubling”.
However, other school districts may still be using Culvers' buses, as a representative from the Secretary of State’s office said schools are not required to inform their office when they enter into agreements with school bus transportation companies.
