Board enacts ban on bus co. MIDDLETOWN - After an administrative law judge paved the way for the district, the Board of Education voted unanimously last week to bar Milu Bus Service from bidding on transportation contracts for the next three years, the maximum amount of time allowed by the state. The ban on Milu's services comes in the wake of a company school bus aide being charged by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office with providing methadone to a 15-year-old Middletown High School North student, who passed out in class from the drug. Parrish Jones, of Keansburg, was indicted in March on charges pertaining to the Oct. 30 incident. School officials had to wait nine months after the incident in order to put the ban into effect. Monmouth County Schools Superintendent Eugenia Lawson initially ruled that the district could only stop Milu from bidding on two particular routes, because these were the only ones that came into question during testimony back in May. Lawson made the ruling in June, and the district then took its case to Administrative Law Judge Jeff Masin, who, on July 13, said Lawson placed unfair restrictions on which routes Milu could bid on. The district wanted Milu out of the picture completely, not letting them have a chance to bid on any of its 300-plus routes. At its monthly meeting July 25, the board voted 7-0, with Kevin Ryan and Patricia Walsh being absent. Milu's lawyer, Louis Granata, declined to comment on the matter. - Dan Newman