By Dave Savini, Carol Thompson
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FRANKFORT, Illinois (WBBM) — Jenna Menias started first grade in August. She was about to celebrate her 7th birthday in early September.
“She always had a smile on her face,” said her father, Michael Menias.
One of the things that brought her joy was the newest family member, Oscar. A dachshund.
“She loves her dog very much,” said Menias.
Oscar was by her side as Menias walked his daughter to her bus stop the morning of September 8th.
“I hugged her goodbye and I kissed her … I told her I love you and I’ll see you later,” he remembered. “That was the last time I spoke to her.”
Later that day, he would see her again, but that time he and others were trying to save her life. His clothes were covered in her blood.
“It was horrific,” he said.
The accident An internal email the CBS News Chicago Investigators received through a public records request is titled “Challenging afternoon” and was written by the Director of Transportation for Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210, the district that owns and operates school buses for several nearby school districts, including Jenna’s.
The email details how “a lot of late call offs” were impacting bus schedules that afternoon. It notes two dispatchers were also out “which makes a challenging day – worse.”
The email was sent at 1:19 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Two hours later, Jenna was on a substitute bus with a substitute driver heading home from school.
CBS News Chicago Investigators read the police reports and watched videos from Jenna’s bus and another one behind hers.
The video shows the substitute driver on bus 2618 driving with one hand, holding a route map in the other hand, and reading it while he was operating the bus.
At 3:20 p.m. he opens the door and lets Jenna get off. She turns right and immediately turns around, heading toward the front of the bus.
Within six seconds, she is near the front of the bus, trying to cross the street. The driver is looking in the rearview mirror at other children on the bus and at the route map. He closes the door, retracts the safety stop arm, and starts moving forward.
Six seconds after Jenna steps off the bus, the bus hits her. The bus’s tandem rear wheels run over her.
The police report says the substitute driver took his eyes off the road because he was distracted as Jenna tried to cross in front of the bus, calling the crash preventable, noting the investigation findings are enough to issue a citation.
It also notes the driver had only received his license to operate a school bus in July – two months before the fatal accident. And it says this was the first time he was driving Jenna’s route.
Shortly after the accident, Jenna’s dad arrives on scene and tries to help first responders save her life.
“I was praying a lot. I was asking for a miracle. I was begging the first responders to give me some sort of hope,” he said.
Jenna was still alive on the street. She died later at a nearby hospital. Only her backpack in her favorite color pink remained behind.
Lawsuit cites failures The family is now suing both District 210 and Frankfort School District 157-C for wrongful death and negligence.
“In order for this tragedy to happen, it is not a failure of one safety measure, it is a failure of multiple safety measures,” said Dan Kirschner, an attorney with Corboy and Demetrio.
For years, the family had been asking District 157-C to let bus drivers drop their children off at their driveway right in front of the home. First in 2022, for Jenna’s brother, and as recently as August for Jenna.
The district rejected every request; this year, sending a notice on Aug. 26, explaining that “due to route timing and efficiency requirements, we are unable to provide individual house stops.”
“One frustration that a lot of parents have in this neighborhood is the inconsistency with respect to drop-off,” said Kirschner.
The week after that denial notice, on the day Jenna died, she was dropped off at the designated stop, which was down the road from her house on the opposite side of the street. That would force her to cross the street in front of the bus.
However, two days before that district denial, on Aug. 24, the family’s Nest camera video shows her being dropped off by a different driver at the foot of her driveway. On that day, she walked safely up her driveway with her father and Oscar by her side.
“More than horrifying, it’s infuriating,” said Kirschner. “I think the parents in that neighborhood are right to have concern about whether their children are safe.”
The week following Jenna’s death, CBS News Chicago Investigators went to the neighborhood and saw children, some as young as Jenna, still being dropped off with no adults present, and being forced to cross in front of the bus to reach their homes.
“And, that’s not just on the driver. That’s an institutional failure,” said Kirschner.
Neither school district would comment on the investigation or the lawsuit, but both called the “accident” a tragedy and extended their “deepest sympathies” and “sincerest condolences” to Jenna’s family and friends.
Another email obtained from District 157-C explains changes involving policies around bus routes and family concerns.
“Several stops have already been adjusted,” it says, and adds that other routes are under review “to identify opportunities to enter and exit the bus on the side of the roadway closest to their residence.”
The District will ask an “independent transportation consultant” to conduct a comprehensive review of the transportation program.
The aftermath Frankfort police refused to comment on the case, citing an ongoing National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation.
The NTSB told CBS News Chicago that it is gathering information from the incident involving Jenna to use in a similar ongoing safety accident investigation involving school bus fatalities nationwide.
As a memorial grows in front of their home, the family celebrated Jenna’s 7th birthday recently at her gravesite by releasing pink balloons into the cloudy sky.
“We’ll always remember you. We love you always,” said her father.
He said the one thing he’ll miss the most about her is, “Just the words, ‘I love you, Dad.'”
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