CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : LAGUNA HILLS : School Bus Firm Suspends Driver

A school bus driver who forced a 7-year-old boy off her bus because he was carrying three pet lizards in a box has been suspended indefinitely, school and bus company officials said Friday. The driver will be suspended until Mayflower Contract Services, which operates buses for the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, completes an investigation into her actions, said Craig Campbell, a Mayflower supervisor. “It is just a normal disciplinary step we take when an action like this takes place,” Campbell said. The driver, who has not been identified, told second-grader Tristan Martin to get off a school bus Tuesday morning after he refused to eject the lizards that he was taking to school for show-and-tell. The boy, accompanied by two older students, walked 1 1/2 miles to his El Toro elementary school. Asst. Supt. Robert Cornelius said that school district officials will not take any action in the incident until the investigation is completed. Cornelius said that drivers are not allowed to leave students at a stop unless it is at the school or their home.