A Madison Local Schools student was taken to the hospital this morning following a school bus crash on Michael Road, according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.

The elementary school student was injured when the bus she was riding on was rear-ended. The 9-year-old girl was transported to Atrium Medical Center in Middletown.

A preliminary investigation indicates Devin Monk, 19, from Preble County Line Road, was driving a 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix eastbound in the 6800 block of Michael Road in Madison Twp. at about 8:30 a.m. when he ran into the back of a stopped school bus, driven by Mark Whiteman, 57, of Middletown.

Petermann Bus official Brian Howard said Whiteman has been a bus driver for the company for four years. Howard said the bus’s rear bumper was pushed in about four inches from the collision, but returned to the lot under its own power.

The bus was transporting 21 students, ranging in ages 6-11, according to the sheriff’s office. The bus was apparently stopped with its flashers activated at the time of the crash.

An 11-year-old boy complained of minor injury, was assessed by squad members, then released to his parents who had responded to the scene. The remaining students were transferred to another bus and were taken on to school.

Parents of all the children riding the bus were contacted by the school.

The girl’s parents said she had been involved in an auto accident two years ago. For that reason, they requested that paramedics transport their daughter to the hospital as a precaution. Emergency personnel later told Madison Superintendent Curtis Philpot that the girl had been joking with her doctors at Atrium, and has now been treated and released.

Monk, who was not injured was cited for failure to maintain an assured clear distance.

Students will return from school today on bus number eight, and will be using bus eight until the damaged bus can be repaired.