Seminole school bus driver fired after getting breakfast while students waited on bus

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A Seminole County school district bus driver was fired last week after what a camera caught him doing on the job.

The video shows Howard Moore Sr. leaving kids alone on a bus in October while he went to get breakfast.

Moore left the keys in the ignition and hopped off the bus, returning minutes later with a bagel and a soft drink, which even surprised the two students on board.

"Look. Uh, uh. No, he didn't!" said one student.

"You got me a doughnut?" a student asked as Moore returned.

"No, I didn't get a doughnut. I got a bagel," Moore replied.

Even though the incident happened in October, it took the district several months to fire Moore because he took the fight to keep his job to all the way to an administrative judge.

"We can see, literally, often times, video evidence that an event occurred and sometimes there are cases where an employee will say, 'Yes, I admit. I did that, but what I want to do is appeal the severity of the consequence,'" said Ron Pinnell, SCPS human resources director.

District officials deal with similar types of hearings about three times a year, and each one costs at least $5,000.

Cydney Abrams was fired in 2010 for cussing at a student and her two-year long fight cost the district $33,000.

But the employees don't have to pay a dime.

"They can continue to push as far as they feel they want to in order to get their due process rights," said Pinnell.

Moore told the judge he wasn't thinking and was under a lot of stress, but he's now out of a job.

WFTV