District: Driver fired for duct-taping student

Using duct tape to silence a loud, unruly student ended up costing a bus driver in the South Country Central School District his job.

"It did not appear the bus driver was being malicious, but this was a horrible display of judgment," said Gregory Miglino Jr., president of the district's board of education.

The district announced the driver was fired in a statement Friday.

Miglino would not identify the driver or the student, but said the incident happened on or about Jan. 15 on a bus servicing Frank P. Long Intermediate School in Bellport.

Miglino said an investigation of the incident revealed that a group of students on the bus was being loud and unruly, and that the driver taped shut the mouth of a student to "defuse the situation."

Miglino said the school district would not tolerate the action.

"And the bus company has concurred," he said.

Phone calls to Montauk Bus Service, which employed the driver, were not immediately returned.