Brenda Brooks, 66, pleaded guilty in April to child abuse, endangerment, OVI and prohibited acts.
She initially pled not guilty in October, then changed her plea in April.
She received a total of 40 months prison sentence for her charges. However, because the case was heard in municipal court, the maximum jail sentence she can serve is 18 months.
Brooks will also pay a fine and serve five years of probation after her release.
She gained national notice after a parent intervened to stop her reckless driving with children on board in September 2025.
She was placed on leave in September after several concerned parents called the Miami County Sheriff’s Office to report the driver’s allegedly erroneous maneuvering.
The parent of one of the students realized her daughter was 20 minutes late when panic started to set in. Her daughter began transmitting voice recordings from her Gizmo watch, an electronic device her parents encouraged her to keep at school in case of an emergency.
That parent then called another parent for assistance, who was driving in the opposite direction when he noticed the bus swerve off the road and nearly crash into a ditch.
He drove in front of the bus and blocked it, requesting that the driver stop driving and the children be let off.
He claimed the bus driver slammed the door and drove away, swerving even more. He says he got back in his car and cut her off again, demanding the children be let off.
“I arrived a minute after he had detained the bus,” explained the first parent. “I tried to get her off the bus. She would not open the door to the point where there’s kids screaming for help. “I will never forget those children’s faces banging on the windows, asking for me to help them.”
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