7 INVESTIGATES: Springville has decent school bus safety record, but driver's record is unknown

The tiny Springville Griffith-Institute has one of the best school bus safety records in Western New York. It had only one bus pulled off the road for safety violations last year -- while the average number of violations was four per school district.

Of course, that doesn't mean mistakes can't happen.

*Click here to read Josh Bazan's story about the Springville community pulling together in the wake of tragedy.*

Twice in the past two years, Springville buses were involved in crashes, but none of those were fatal before 7-year-old Alyssa Hearn was struck and killed on Friday.

One other thing to consider: a source has told 7 Eyewitness News that the bus driver was a substitute. We called the Springville Superintendent Kimberly Moritz to confirm this but she did not return our call.

Schools can't just pick someone up off the street and make them a bus driver -- they need to obtain a commercial driving license and their driving records are supposed to be reviewed every year.

As for this driver's record -- the State Department of Motor Vehicles offered to do a search for us, but because Sheriff's Office spokesman Scott Zylka won't release the driver's name, they could not perform that search.