OAKLAND TWP — Thirteen Butler Middle School students were checked by paramedics Thursday morning after a school bus hit a tree stump and went off the road into a shallow ditch.

The accident happened at 9:08 a.m. in the area of 302 Eyth Road, officials said.

None of the students were injured, though they were checked both at the scene and at the middle school by the school nurse, acting Superintendent William Pettigrew said.

Their parents were notified of the accident by school officials shortly after it happened, Pettigrew said. Parents were also given the option of taking their children out of school for the day if they wanted.

Valley Lines, the district’s busing contractor, sent another bus to the scene to transport the students, who had been riding bus no. 85.

The district believes the accident was caused by operator error, and Pettigrew said that the driver, who is employed by Valley Lines, will be removed from the route.

“We instructed Valley Lines, that bus driver is not to drive for the Butler School District,” he said.

State police and the Oneida Valley Volunteer Fire Company responded to the accident.

This was not the first accident involving a school bus in the district this school year.

On Sept. 21, four children and a bus driver were taken to the hospital with injuries after a bus struck an oncoming pickup truck on Bonniebrook Road in Summit Township.

After that accident, the district learned that the bus was a 2004 model, which should not have been in service since the district’s contract with Valley Lines requires the company to only use buses that are no older than 10 years.

In light of that, the board approved a contract with the Armstrong Indiana Intermediate Unit, which employs experts in school transportation issues, to conduct an investigation into the busing contractor going back to 2011. That investigation is still ongoing.

A Valley Lines representative could not be reached for comment this morning.