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BILLINGS (AP) - A school bus, with elementary students on board, stopped at a liquor store in mid-December, district superintendent Jack Copps said.

Copps said someone spotted the bus at the liquor store on Dec. 12 and called authorities. Before officers boarded the bus, Copps said the driver allegedly asked a student to hide a paper bag with bottles of alcohol near the back of the bus.

The students were en route to Riverside Elementary.

``You can't make things like this up,'' Copps said. ``If we were trying to think of something that could be one of the strangest things that could possibly happen in the school district, this is it.''

Copps said it does not appear the driver had been drinking. The incident is still being investigated and no charges had been filed Wednesday.

Earlier this week, the bus driver quit her job with First Student, which has the bus contract with the district.

School district policy prohibits alcohol in any form on school property or in vehicles transporting students. Copps described the incident as ``embarrassing to the district.''

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