School buses, like this one in the St. John's area, had a difficult time navigating streets during Thursday's storm. (CBC)

A school bus driver who asked students to get off his bus and help push it up a hill during a snowstorm in Newfoundland last week has been suspended.

The driver's bus became stuck in snow Thursday in Conception Bay South near St. John's while bringing students home.

"That driver is no longer driving a bus for the Eastern School District, pending the outcome of an investigation," said district CEO Ford Rice.

Rice said the driver should have called for assistance. The driver reportedly asked Holy Spirit High School students, in the Manuels area of Conception Bay South, to help push his bus up a snow-covered hill.

"Things happened that shouldn't have happened. Protocol was broken, and we'll be following up," Rice told CBC News last week.

"Our contractors are well aware, drivers should be well aware as well, of the protocols that are in place for students' safety. Student safety is our utmost priority."

The other two cases, reported in St. John's and nearby Mount Pearl, involved students being released from buses that had run into trouble on their routes.

On Thursday, Albert Trask, the Eastern School District's assistant director of education, said in another case that "the bus driver just opened the door and let the students depart from the bus and that is against our protocol. It's against our policy and guidelines."

He added, "We're addressing with the busing contractors that kind of incident to ensure that in the future, if that were to occur — and I pray and hope it doesn't — that there would be a different approach and response."

Trask said school buses that run into similar situations are expected to wait for a plow or another bus to arrive first.

Thursday's snowfall set a St. John's record for Jan. 13, with 37.8 centimetres of snow falling after forecasters had predicted about half that amount.