The school bus driver at the wheel during a double fatal New Jersey highway crash made his first court appearance Friday as the family of a dead 10-year-old girl prepared to file a lawsuit.

Hudy Muldrow Sr., 77, who faces two counts of reckless vehicular homicide/death by auto in the May 17 crash that killed a teacher and a student, slowly walked into the Morris County courtroom hunched over and at times needing assistance from court officers.

He sat in a yellow prison jumpsuit during the brief hearing.

Judge Stephen Taylor ordered that Muldrow be held at the Morris County Correctional Facility pending his detention hearing, which was scheduled for next Wednesday.

Muldrow’s family members, who were among those packing the courtroom, were seen weeping.

Authorities allege that after missing a turn, Muldrow attempted an illegal U-turn on I-80 in Mount Olive by veering the school bus — packed with schoolkids and teachers from East Brook Middle School — “to the left in an apparent attempt to gain access to the official-use-only access point located between the east and westbound lanes.”

The bus was then struck by a dump truck traveling in the center lane of the three-lane highway with such force that the chassis of the bus was separated from its carriage.

Jennifer Williamson, 51, a fifth-grade teacher at the Paramus school, and Miranda Vargas, 10, were killed in the crash, which injured more than 40.

Both victims’ relatives also attended the court hearing, but left without speaking to the media.

Hours after the court appearance, David Fried, the attorney representing the Vargas family, said he filed a complaint against Paramus and its Board of Education following the revelation that Muldrow’s driver’s license had previously been suspended 14 times.

“Having learned the last few days of the driving record that Mr. Muldrow has and that the ­Paramus Board of Education had him driving children has caused them to be even more distraught,” Fried told reporters.

“While there’s never any good to come from this horrible tragedy, they feel strongly that they want to have a voice and hopefully talk about the need for better vetting and better evaluation of who gets the opportunity to drive children,” Fried said.

Fried continued: “As Mr. Vargas [Miranda’s dad] said to me the other day, ‘This is the future of America and they’re being put into the hands of people who at times probably had no business being a bus driver.’ On that issue, they want to remain involved and at this point that’s been one of the many bitter pills they have to swallow.”

The complaint was filed in Bergen County, of which Paramus is a borough, said Fried, adding that the family intends to sue.

Shortly after Muldrow’s Friday court appearance, his pal William Clark told reporters that Muldrow “was under the impression that he didn’t do anything wrong.”

Clark added he visited Muldrow Monday and “naturally, he was sad.”