Clark-Pleasant Superintendent Tim Edsell (right) and Chief Chad Pryce (center) thank bus driver Brent Boltz (left) on Tuesday at the Clark-Pleasant School Board meeting for his actions in confiscating a gun from a student on his bus last week at Break-O-Day Elementary.
On the morning of Aug. 9, Brent Boltz pulled his bus into Break-O-Day Elementary just like any other day.
When he parked in his spot, a student on board approached him to tell him another student had a gun in his backpack.
Boltz acted quickly to keep the students on board safe. He got the gun out of the student’s backpack and separated the student with the gun from the other students on the bus. He immediately contacted school police about the incident. The student was detained by police after they arrived.
Boltz was recognized for his actions on Tuesday evening by the Clark-Pleasant School Board, Superintendent Tim Edsell and Clark-Pleasant Police Chief Chad Pryce.
“I just appreciate your actions. I can’t tell you enough,” Edsell said to Boltz.
Edsell described Boltz as what he wants every bus driver to be like. Boltz makes a point to make bus rides fun for his students. He plays music, sings songs and plays games like Simon Says with them on their rides daily.
“I can tell you as I learned more about Brent, the kids love him,” Edsell said. “Which is really one reason why things happened the way they did because there was that comfort level to report any issue.”
It was a scary day, Boltz said. He always makes it clear to students to be open with him if they have an issue, he said. He tells them to not be afraid of messing up or getting in trouble because it’s OK to make mistakes and learn from them.
He commended the student on the bus who informed him about the weapon. He and the other students on board the bus the following Monday applauded that student.
“I stood him up in front of the bus and said, ‘here’s what he did, and if any of you ever come across anything, don’t hesitate. You need to tell an adult or a teacher, whoever,’” Boltz said. “We applauded him because he’s real hero as well.”
Boltz also thanked the police for arriving to the scene as fast as they did.
“I just thank God that I’m here today and nothing happened and everything went the way that it did,” Boltz said.
