Polk County school bus transportation manager fired

POLK COUNTY (FOX 13) - A veteran Polk County school bus transportation manager was fired for what she did after a student was hit and killed by a car.

Brenda Young has been with the school district for 17 years, but the school board voted to fire her today.

It started last May when 17-year-old Kalen Kirk was struck and killed by a car as he crossed Clubhouse Road in South Lakeland to get to his school bus stop.

District officials say Young falsely told her managers that Kalen didn't have to cross the road to get to his bus stop.

And, they say, she later changed information in the computer to back up her claim.

Young says the changes she made in the computer were to protect other kids from accidents in the future.

After she was fired today, she still said she did nothing wrong.

"There is nothing I can do to change what happened in the accident, but I didn't want to see any more students from the school board of Polk County to be injured," she said.

Young didn't have an attorney with her today, but she says she'll have more to say in the future, so it may not be over.