'Critically important' NJ school bus safety office vacant as another … – NorthJersey.com

A year after Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law creating a new Office of School Bus Safety, the state Department of Education has yet to hire anyone, also leaving other parts of the law unfulfilled.
The Legislature sent $200,000 to the Education Department to get the office started. Laura Fredrick, a spokeswoman for the department, said it is “currently working to bring staff on board.”
Fredrick said the State Board of Education approved the creation of the new office in the fall and has assigned internal staff to support the new office. The Education Department is “working diligently to enact the entirety of the legislation,” she added.
One of the new laws also mandates that a list of banned contractors be made public, but that has not been completed, as it is a function of the new office, Fredrick said. The law also requires the new office to submit an annual report to the governor and Legislature outlining its services, enforcement actions taken and recommendations for improving its oversight responsibilities, but that was not done.
Murphy’s office deferred comment to the Education Department when asked whether the governor is concerned about the delayed implementation of the law, whether he plans to do anything about this and whether he is concerned about children taking buses being run by companies facing criminal charges.
The Office of the Attorney General brought criminal charges last month against two men accused of deceiving “public school districts into awarding one or more contracts” and operating with unqualified drivers. One of the men was already on the attorney general’s radar and facing similar charges for a different bus company.
State Sen. Joseph Lagana, D-Paramus, who helped draft the legislation to create the new office, said this issue is “critically important” and that he will be contacting the governor’s office to get an update on the implementation of the new school bus safety laws.
“The more time this takes, the more these kinds of people are left out in the world to fool people. I’m glad the [Attorney General’s Office] is taking an active role in shutting down operations like this,” he said. “But until the foundation is built — being the actual office that’s supposed to pay attention to this stuff and not allow it to happen in the first place — the [Attorney General’s Office] can only do so much.”
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The purpose of the new Office of School Bus Safety at the Department of Education is to “oversee the school busing industry and to coordinate enforcement and accountability among the department, school bus drivers and school bus contractors,” according to the bill, which was signed into law a year ago this month.
Shelim and Jwel Khalique, brothers who operate the school bus company American Star Transportation LLC, were arrested last month for allegedly conspiring to get lucrative student transportation contracts by lying about bus rosters and using unqualified drivers who had criminal convictions or lacked the necessary credentials. The crimes were allegedly committed from June 2021 through December 2022, said the Attorney General’s Office, which brought the charges against the brothers.
The Khalique brothers’ charges came months after an American Star driver was stopped by police in River Edge after running a stop sign. Investigators said the driver was found to be unlicensed and had a pending case for allegedly patronizing a prostitute. American Star has won contracts in numerous school districts, including Paterson, Jersey City, Mahwah, River Edge, Passaic and several other regional districts for students with disabilities since at least 2021.
Shelim Khalique is facing similar charges brought by the Attorney General’s Office in 2020 for his operation of another student bus company, A-1 Elegant, which was highlighted in a USA TODAY Network series after an A-1 driver was caught in a surprise inspection by the state Motor Vehicle Commission. The individual was driving on a suspended license, failed to provide records or documentation for the bus, including the required pre-trip inspection report, and was a convicted sex offender wanted on charges of not registering his address.
This example was one of several in the Network series that showed how brazenly some school bus vendors operated and how easily they committed serious infractions and continued endangering children going to and from school. The Attorney General’s Office noted in court documents that A-1 Elegant had also been doing business as Eastern Star Transportation, but the Network linked the operation to at least 21 different names since 2005 and noted American Star buses on their property at the time. 
Joseph Rotella, a lawyer representing Shelim Khalique, declined to comment to Paterson Press on the new charges brought against his client last month but said he maintains his innocence regarding the previous charges involving A-1 Elegant. Rotella said his client plans to fight them at the trial, scheduled for March.
Jwel Khalique was released from jail in December and ordered by the judge to install surveillance cameras at the company’s bus yard and provide the state with a weekly list of the drivers and bus aides and their credentials.
Another bill, which Murphy signed in November 2021, mandates a public list that will identify owners of barred school bus contractors and prohibits school boards from awarding contracts to them. It also requires the Education Department to send this list to all school districts before March 1 each year and post it online. Reasons for being barred can include violating state law, hiring ineligible or disqualified drivers, or failing to perform satisfactorily.
Both laws, and a third that increased fines for infractions, were a direct result of the USA TODAY Network investigation.
Paterson Press editor Joe Malinconico contributed to this story.

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