CHARLOTTE COURT HOUSE -- Virginia State Police say a school bus driver died and seven students were injured slightly when the bus crashed in Charlotte County.

State Police Sgt. David Cooper said Phyllis Pollard slumped over the wheel as she was driving about 8:15 a.m. today, and the bus went off the road and struck a tree.

She was driving 31 students to the county middle school.

Cooper said seven students were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. He said Pollard, who was in her 50s, was trapped in the bus for nearly an hour and then was taken to a Lynchburg hospital.

-- The Associated Press