School bus operator charged after NBC 5 Responds investigation

An NBC 5 Responds investigation last month revealed an uninsured school bus company was skirting the law while using expired plates to transport Chicago school students, prompting the state of Illinois to revoke the registrations of almost a dozen school buses.

A month later, buses were still spotted driving around the area with young children on them. NBC 5 Responds dug in again, and not only has the owner of Culver Transportation been charged with three misdemeanors for improper use of registration, all her school buses are now off the road.

How did we get to this point? It started with a woman spotting something unusual on the road.

While driving down the Kennedy Expressway last month, Diane Ireland said two old school buses caught her attention.

"When I saw the bus with the kids on it, I was like, 'That's just not right,'" said Ireland. "The names were obscured or part of the letters [on the bus] were missing."

Two days prior, Ireland and her husband saw our NBC 5 Responds investigation that found Culvers Transportation school buses were operating without insurance.

In response to that reporting, the Illinois Secretary of State revoked the registrations for all nine Culvers school buses. Yet more than a month later, Culvers buses were still on the road.

"We were like, 'We got to let PJ know that that job isn't done and you need to follow up on that,'" said Ireland.

The Secretary of State told us one Culvers bus that Ireland captured was using an expired plate. The agency has since confiscated all of Culvers' license plates.

"You can see that there's a huge dent in the side of the bus," said Ireland, who also points out lights on the back of the bus appeared to be held on with duct tape.

"That's not normal. You don't duct tape that; that has to be replaced," said "Jane," a former Culvers bus drive who asked us not to use her real name out of fear of retribution.

"The clearance light is broken, missing out of there. That would not pass [inspection]," said Jane, as she looked at Ireland's recent photos of Culvers buses on the road.

Jane said the Culvers buses she drove were rarely repaired and dangerous.

"You had buses in there, the gauges didn't even work. You're playing 'guess what' for our speed limit. Yeah, no lights on the dash," said Jane.

Jane said she started working for Culvers in 2023. She said she was paid under the table and was hired without any of the documentation the state requires for school bus drivers, like a school bus driver permit, drug screening, physical examination and FBI criminal background check.

"I was never sent for a physical," she said. "I was never sent for, you know, fingerprints. This is, this is normal protocol, especially if you're going to be transporting kids."

Jane also shed light on a mystery NBC 5 Responds has been trying to unravel for weeks. Per state law, all school buses are required to be inspected by the Department of Transportation every six months or 10,000 miles. We requested safety inspection reports for all Culvers vehicles going back 10 years, but we only received a total of three unscheduled inspection records.  

Jane said that during her time working at Culvers, the buses were never inspected.

"Every last one of them had an expired safety, a safety lane sticker on them, and that was the sticker that was registered to that vehicle from the previous company that owned it," said Jane.

Just this week, the Illinois Department of Transportation admitted it had "no record" of Culvers getting those state-required school bus safety inspections.

This statement contradicts a 2017 Chicago Public School Board report about the company that claim Culvers "failed numerous state safety inspections." IDOT maintains they do not have any record of those failed inspections either.

So how was Culvers able to operate for more than 10 years without a single semi-annual safety inspection on file?

In a statement, IDOT told us: "In Illinois, IDOT's role is to certify testing stations and perform unscheduled safety inspections to assess the safety of buses. It does not serve in a law enforcement role to ensure the statute is being followed."

IDOT also told us it's up to law enforcement to issue citations when "non compliant vehicles are in operation," but the agency also said it doesn't notify police when school buses skip their required inspections either.

"It was a risk for everybody on the bus, including the driver," said Jane.

The Secretary of State's Office told NBC 5 Responds that Culvers owner Sheri Culver has been charged with three misdemeanors for improper use of registration. Culvers told us that as of last week, all her school buses are now off the road.

Finally, in our previous report we mentioned Culvers was barred from doing business with Chicago Public Schools in 2017, but we found several CPS schools and charter schools have continued using the bus company anyway.

We learned: Chicago High School for the Arts stopped using Culvers transportation on the exact day we contacted them for comment. Intrinsic school told us they also stopped using the bus company after seeing our investigation. Englewood Stem Academy, a CPS school, also used Culvers school buses until May 2023.

In a statement, a spokesperson for CPS told us: "Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is dedicated to ensuring the safety of its students. For District- managed schools, transportation vendors must go through the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process. The vendor must complete the onboarding process to become a CPS vendor. After submitting all necessary documentation, the request is thoroughly reviewed and vetted by the District. Charter schools are independent and report to their own Board of Directors. Charters oversee the vendors that provide student transportation and maintain their own vendor approval process."

If you spot a Culvers bus on the road, note the time and location the bus was seen as well as the license plate number and contact the local non-emergency number. Only take these steps if you can do so safely.