YMCA offers little (and varying) information after bus incident
Three left with minor injuries
As reporters waited in front of the Southern Saratoga branch of the Capital District YMCA for the return of fourteen campers coming from an aborted trip to Cooperstown, Communications Director Rob Totaro was saying the bus had not rolled over - that it had only gone off the road. When the bus pulled in, it came in the back.
Four of the campers told CBS 6 News the bus they had been riding to the Baseball Hall of Fame had ended up in its side.
Some students, and some parents say they were told by members of the YMCA the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. One father, Randy Littlejohn, said one woman at the Y told him the driver had fallen asleep and another woman there said that was not the case. One woman said a counselor who had been on the bus told her that the driver had fallen asleep and that counselors had been instructed to not give that information to parents.
One parent gave CBS 6 a copy of a letter that had been given to parent from Stacie Peugh, the Executive Director of the Southern Saratoga YMCA branch. It is nearly identical to a letter Totaro gave to CBS 6.
In the first letter, parents were told twenty teen-aged campers and two staff members were on the bus when the driver lost control and drove off the road. In the second letter it is fourteen campers and three staff (the same numbers indicated in a news release from the Otsego County Sheriff's Office) and there is no mention of the driver losing control.
The first letter states, in bold print, "No one was injured during this accident." The second letter reads, "No one was seriously injured during this accident."
The first letter says, "Please know that the safety of all YMCA members is always our goal." The second letter reads, "Please know that the safety of our members is always our first priority."
The second letter says the YMCA is working with the Shenendehowa school district to address what happened. The first letter makes no mention of that particular cooperation.
According to the YMCA, the bus and the driver were provided by the school district. Peugh's letter says all of the kids were taken to the hospital in Cooperstown to confirm that everyone was uninjured.
