The Associated Press

1/08/09   02:44 PM

BILLINGS, Mont. – A school bus driver made an unscheduled stop at a liquor store, then allegedly asked a student to help hide her purchases when police stopped her, the district superintendent said. It does not appear the driver had been drinking, Billings Public Schools Superintendent Jack Copps said. No charges had been filed but the driver quit her job this week.

 Copps said someone spotted the bus at the liquor store on Dec. 12 and called authorities. No students were on the bus at the time, he said.

 By the time officers caught up with the bus, the driver had picked up some middle school students and allegedly asked one student to hide a paper bag with bottles of alcohol near the back of the bus, Copps said.

 Copps said the school immediately notified its bus contractor, First Student, that the woman was not to transport any of the district's students.

 School district policy prohibits alcohol on school property or in vehicles transporting students. Copps described the incident as "embarrassing."