The California Highway Patrol is investigating allegations that Hemet Unified School District has repeatedly allowed dozens of “exhausted” school bus drivers to work beyond California’s legal hourly limits, possibly endangering schoolchildren.
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In separate complaints to the CHP’s Motor Carrier Safety Unit dated March 28 and April 18, whistleblowers in the district’s transportation department claim the district is “knowingly and repeatedly” violating state laws on the number of hours school bus drivers are allowed to work, “placing exhausted school bus drivers behind the wheel of vehicles transporting children.”
“The scale of the violations suggests not negligence, but systemic operational misconduct,” according to the 18-page complaint dated April 18.
Both complaints contain data the reporting parties claim was gleaned from the district’s digital timekeeping system.
The March 28 complaint documents hundreds of instances in which more than 40 drivers allegedly exceeded state safety limits from July 2025 to March 2026.
The reporting employees identified 247 primary violations, including 227 cases in which drivers worked 80 to 85 hours over an eight-day period, surpassing the 80-hour limit, and 19 instances in which drivers worked more than 90 hours in an eight-day period. Additionally, there were 20 cases of drivers working more than the 16-hour cap for a single day.
The April 18 complaint alleged that from January to April this year, at least 16 drivers worked more than 16 hours in one day. The report also documented more than 100 instances of drivers working more than 80 hours in a rolling eight-day period from Jan. 5 to April 17, with nine of the employees having worked more than 90 hours, according to the complaint.
“Driver fatigue is one of the leading causes of commercial vehicle crashes. California law strictly limits pupil transportation hours because fatigued bus drivers kill people,” the April 18 complaint says. “If these numbers are accurate — and they come from the district’s own system — Hemet Unified may be operating in a manner that is illegal, dangerous and deceptive.”
It went on to say: “The purpose of this report is not to assign blame or make legal determinations. … Rather, the objective is to bring transparency to these issues, promote accountability, and prevent a potentially serious incident including death resulting from driver fatigue and inadequate dispatching practices.”
Sgt. Omar Morales of the CHP’s Border Division said Thursday, May 7, that the investigation began in mid-April and is a joint effort between the motor carrier safety units of both the Border and Inland divisions. Morales said he couldn’t divulge any details about the investigation, but said it should conclude “in the next couple of months.”
Was district unresponsive?
One of the reporting employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said more than a half-dozen employees felt compelled to report the alleged violations to the CHP and the media after complaints to the district’s transportation manager and a district administrator fell on deaf ears.
“This is a huge deal in our world of commercial driving. In this industry, they teach it and preach it — do not violate these laws,” said the employee, referring to California Vehicle Code Section 21702 and Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations Section 1212.
Collectively, those laws limit school bus drivers to 10 hours of driving in a day, prohibit them from remaining on duty beyond 16 hours after reporting for work, and bar them from driving after accumulating 80 on-duty hours in any consecutive eight-day period.
District spokesperson Brenda Aguirre-Hassan said the claim that employees reported their concerns to the district’s transportation manager and a district administrator was unsubstantiated.
“The District has not received any formal reports or complaints directly related to these allegations,” Aguirre-Hassan said in an email. She said the district is “actively reviewing the personnel aspects related to the CHP investigation into the complaint received.”
Rigorous safety protocols
Aguirre-Hassan said the district maintains rigorous safety protocols that align with all laws, rules and regulations as it relates to pupil transportation.
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“To uphold these standards, we provide comprehensive, recurring training for our staff, specifically focused on regulatory compliance and the highest levels of operational safety,” Aguirre-Hassan said in an email.
To verify the accuracy of drive time records, Aguirre-Hassan said, the district utilizes a combination of digital time tracking and manual logs, as required by law, to verify bus driver hours of service. She said the records are subject to regular internal audits by the transportation department and are also available for inspection by the CHP during their scheduled and unscheduled terminal evaluations.
“We are currently evaluating enhancements to our auditing software to provide real-time alerts for when hours of service levels are reaching the required limits,” Aguirre-Hassan said. She said it is important to note that, prior to the CHP probe, the district has maintained a longstanding record of “satisfactory” ratings, the highest rating achievable, during CHP inspections.
“While we pride ourselves on our positive reputation within the community, our primary focus remains the safety of our students. We are committed to upholding these high standards through continuous improvement and rigorous adherence to all safety regulations,” she said. “We want our families and community to know that student safety is at the center of everything we do, and we are committed to operating with transparency, accountability, and care in all aspects of our work.”
Serves other districts
Under the leadership of former transportation manager Michael Fogerty, Hemet Unified transformed its department into a regional transportation hub for students in 2014. With one of Southern California’s largest school bus fleets, Hemet Unified provided busing services for roughly 20 neighboring districts and agencies, generating millions in outside revenue.
District leaders said the inter-agency contracts help offset operational costs, fund fleet upgrades and keep transportation financially self-sustaining.
Hemet Unified did not provide a list of all the school districts and agencies it has agreements with for busing services, but the April 18 complaint notes the district serves the Perris Union High School District, Perris Elementary, Nuview Union Elementary and Romoland school districts, and San Jacinto and Val Verde unified school districts, among others.
“This workload generates millions in revenue. Multiple employees believe the district is sacrificing safety to meet contract volume,” the complaint alleges. “Several employees believe the district is knowingly violating HOS (hours of service) laws to maintain revenue-producing trip volume.”
Aguirre-Hassan said Hemet Unified currently employs 239 professional school drivers.
High executive turnover
According to the April 18 complaint, the district’s transportation department has experienced high turnover in recent years, including two executive directors resigning in the past three years, as well as three transportation managers and one coordinator.
“Staff report that some newly hired managers lack a basic understanding of pupil transportation law and have allegedly provided illegal operational guidance,” the complaint states.
Since Fogerty’s retirement about five years ago, the district employee speaking on condition of anonymity said the once well-oiled machine that was the district’s transportation department and busing system has devolved to a state of managerial inefficiency and communication breakdowns.
“There’s frustration among staff that the district leadership doesn’t understand the legal requirements to run this department,” the employee said.
Most notably, the April 18 complaint alleges, the district appointed Jeff Keeney, the former principal of Valle Vista Elementary School, to executive director of the transportation department, reportedly emphasizing the need for “someone who can cheerlead” while overlooking the operational and regulatory expertise required for such a position.
Additionally, several managers remain new to their roles and appear to lack a working understanding of applicable laws and regulations, the complaint said.
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