By David Brand

In the weeks since a Far Rockaway second-grader was crushed and killed by the van that was supposed to take him home from school, local leaders have begun seeking information about the network of independent school buses and “church vans” that shuttle children to schools around the peninsula.

Camron “Neno” Brown, 7, and his sister Paris, 9, were traveling to their aunt’s home from P.S. 43 aboard a school bus operated by Elmer and Jennifer Transportation, a company that families pay to transport their children and that does not contract with the Department of Education.

The bus stopped on Gipson Street near Mott Avenue so that Camron and Paris could transfer to a different vehicle, a 1998 Ford van, that would take them the last leg of their trip home. But as Camron was walking alongside the bus, the van driver accelerated forward. The van pinned Camron against the bus and killed him.

Local leaders say they want to learn more about who oversees bus companies like Elmer and Jennifer.

“I would hope that if someone operates a school bus, whether its private or not, that they are vetted,” said Queens Community Board 14 District Manager Jonathan Gaska. “People assume that the government regulates this and is on top of it, but I don’t know.”

A New York State Department of Transportation spokesperson said an investigation into the crash continues, but did not respond to a question about who was conducting the investigation.

Until earlier this week, Elmer and Jennifer Transportation advertised itself as a Department of Education “Approved NYC vendor” and featured a DOE logo on its website. A DOE spokesperson told the Eagle earlier this month that the city did not contract with the company and that the agency would “ask Elmer to remove the DOE logo from its website.” The company has not responded to several requests for comment.

On Friday, the company website was down.

School bus drivers who contract with local school districts and education departments, including the NYCDOE, must undergo thorough screening through the State Department of Education and complete an application and background check through the Department of Motor Vehicles Bus Driver Unit as part of a law known as Article 19-A.

Gaska questioned whether drivers for companies that don’t contract with cities or the state, like Elmer and Jennifer Transportation, have similarly stringent regulations.

“The interesting question is, are they regulated differently than the ones that work with the city?” he said. “I don’t know the answer. But are there different standards, and are the parents aware of that?”

Gaska likened the private vehicles to a “car service” because families pay the companies out of pocket, but said that, unlike a ride hail app or taxi company, the drivers are specifically transporting young children. The vehicles are also common among the Orthodox Jewish community in the Rockaway Peninsula, he said.

Gaska said he wonders which city or state agency — if any — is ultimately tasked with monitoring the network of buses carrying little children around the city.

“This is going to be musical chairs and one of these agencies is going to be left without a chair when the music stops,” Gaska said. “Some city or state or state agency screwed up. That’s what this sounds like.”