A substitute school van driver was fired on Wednesday after a student videotaped her using a cellphone to take photos of stuffed animals while behind the wheel, officials said.
The 16-year-old student texted her mother on Tuesday that she felt like she was going to get into an accident on the ride along the Garden State Parkway from the Academy Charter High School in Lake Como to her home in Red Bank.
The video she took shows the driver taking photos of a stuffed animal and looking at her phone. The student said the van reached speeds of up to 80 mph.
"When I saw the videos, I couldn't believe what I was seeing," Jude Clough, the student's mother, said. "These people are paid by the school to take care of the kids."
The school's director, Mary Jo McKinley, told the Asbury Park Press the driver was fired by DAG Transport. McKinley said officials were "appalled" by the driver's recklessness.
Clough said she when she eventually got in touch with the transportation officials, they "pretty much blew me off."
An employee of the Lakewood-based private transportation company told the newspaper that a supervisor was unavailable to comment on the issue.
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"I'm so scared that if I don't say something, tomorrow there could be an accident where someone got hurt," Clough said.
Upon hearing that the driver was subsequently fired, Clough said she thinks the penalty should've been stiffer.
