Too messed up and incompetent for words
@GardenGerty (160677)
United States
December 2, 2023 3:49pm CST
I was reading news on Facebook just now.
A five year old girl in Massachusetts was left for five hours in an empty school bus. She was seatbelted in the seat and could not get out. She had fallen asleep and failed to get off at her stop. When she woke up she was screaming, and crying and calling for her driver by name. The person who found her got her out and put her in a warm vehicle.
I guess the bus driver did not keep track of who got off and did not do a walk through after finishing the run.
Her daycare had marked her as present and had not reported her missing. They told her parents they were very sorry.
Two people/agencies who are responsible for the safety of young children FAILED!
I know things like this can happen. It happened to me twice while I was a bus driver. My very first day of driving, a little girl did not know where she should get off, and was scared. I saw her in my mirror before I parked my bus for the day, and took her safely to school from the bus lot. Her parents were called. No repercussions. She was safe. The next day she got off with the other children. My bus stopped at three schools in the morning. Kids did not have name tags. I did not have a list of who went where. No one met the bus to make sure the kids were there.
The second time, I was running a pre-school route. The preschool decided to run a two month program for at risk 2 1/2 year old children. Special needs children. I picked them all up. Arrived at the preschool. 9 count them NINE adults got on the bus, and took the children in. All adults, teachers, therapists, aides, talking, etc.I pulled through the canopy, headed out of the parking lot, towards the bus barn and I heard a squeak. This was still in the days of the car seats with hinged bars that strapped down. I still had a passenger. Back I went to the Headstart/special needs preschool. The staff just commented, "of course it would be the little girl who was completely non verbal".
Come on people! This is the school equivalent of a parent leaving a helpless child in a hot car on a summer day.
How professional can you get?
17 people like this
16 responses
@celticeagle (167025)
• Boise, Idaho
3 Dec
I have heard of this happening before. I think it should be a part of their job to walk through the bus at the end of their day just to be sure.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
Not just at the end of the day, but at the end of each run. Some buses go out more than twice daily.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (167025)
• Boise, Idaho
3 Dec
@GardenGerty ........Yes, that's true. I guess I was thinking of the city buses.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
4 Dec
@celticeagle I know in some places students do ride city buses. I would think at the end of a shift they would also do a walk through. Actually they are also supposed to do mechanical inspections regularly.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (106323)
• Marion, Ohio
2 Dec
How that many adults could miss a child is just mind blowing
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
When a whole group of adults gets to talking, things do get missed.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (106323)
• Marion, Ohio
3 Dec
@GardenGerty But they had a job to do and should have been paying attention to that
@snowy22315 (180791)
• United States
2 Dec
That should never happen yet it seems to every year. Thank God it wasn't frigid!!
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
It happens lots of times, lots of places. I do not know how cold it was. We were pretty cold here in Kansas and I would not want to be stuck in a cold bus for five hours.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (180791)
• United States
3 Dec
@GardenGerty I can't imagine how scared the kid was, and her parents for that matter.
@RasmaSandra (79886)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
2 Dec
There is absolutely no excuse for this and is the fault of the driver, If she knew him by name then he knows the kids he drives and he should always check the bus to see everyone has gotten off,
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
They are supposed to. And then what about the daycare worker that marked her present when she was not? If they had been paying attention they would have been looking for the little one a lot sooner.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (79886)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
3 Dec
@GardenGerty just glad she was finally found and all right.
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
I am hoping the girl in Massachusetts did not suffer frostbite or anything.
1 person likes this
@Deepizzaguy (102889)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
2 Dec
It is a shame that children have to go through this.
2 people like this
@AmbiePam (92792)
• United States
2 Dec
This happened very recently in Oklahoma City, and fortunately, the girl was unharmed. All the driver had to do was walk down the aisle, and she would have seen the sleeping child. This turned out to be the second time the driver had done that.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
I remember reading that. Yes. After every run the driver is supposed to do a walk through. Actually we were supposed to sweep out the bus as well. If you did your job this could not happen.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (69776)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
2 Dec
It happens. At least she seems alright. Nothing surprises me anymore.
2 people like this
@RebeccasFarm (89883)
• Arvada, Colorado
2 Dec
They would kill children with their carelessness.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
In this case I worry about frost bite. And PTSD.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
The article did not say. I would also be looking for a new daycare provider.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
4 Dec
It is just so incomprehensible, but it happens.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (218890)
• Walnut Creek, California
4 Dec
@GardenGerty I always count kids. Keeping them safe and accounted for is my first priority.
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
Yeah. A simple "we are sorry this has happened" could not possibly erase this from her memory.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14761)
• San Jose, California
3 Dec
That's horrifying! That poor frightened girl.
My youngest child qualifies for bussing to school as he is in a special needs program, but we've never felt comfortable having him ride the bus. His 13-year-old brother can ride the bus just fine, but we'll drive the youngest to school.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
When I was a bus driver, we did not have para support on the bus. My 14 year old daughter was appalled at that. I regularly had as many as three children in wheel chairs and other non mobile students. We had lots of train tracks to drive over. My daughter asked once what would happen if we stalled on a track with a train coming. I told her I was supposed to cut them out of their chairs and carry them off the bus as fast as I could. She said "they would not all make it would they?" At that point my young teen daughter was smarter than the powers that be. I will also say that I was considered overly cautious in driving in traffic. I never had a close call with a train.
@LindaOHio (178806)
• United States
3 Dec
I'm always amazed that things like this keep happening. Definitely a lack of responsibility. Have a good day.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
People taking short cuts on their jobs.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (178806)
• United States
4 Dec
@GardenGerty Things just aren't the way they were when I was brought up. I would be embarrassed to conduct myself in that way.
@jstory07 (139743)
• Roseburg, Oregon
3 Dec
Teachers etc that work with kids should do a number count and make sure they have all of the children.
Once when my friend and I were at the park with our children. A couple of buses pulled up and a bunch of children went running to get on the bus. Than the buses left. About ten minutes later a seven year old was crying his bus had left without him. This was before pay phones. So we asked him if he knew his parents work number. So we went to a payl phone to have him call his Mother. The mother asked if we could bring him to her. She could not leave work.
So we took him to her. She was really mad about what happened.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
At least he found someone sympathetic and safe to help him. Yes. I had an acquaintance whose teen aged son was on a band trip and they stopped at a mall. He did not get back on the bus and they did not miss him. He called his mom.
@lazydaizee (6735)
• United Kingdom
3 Dec
This is really sad that nobody noticed such a young child being left on her own in a bus.
I would have thought that it would be part of the drivers job to check that there was nobody left on the bus . The driver should also check that nothing had been left behind on his bus and any mess that had been made should be cleaned up before the next journey.
If he had just walked up and down the length of the bus to check that everything was ok ,he would have noticed the girl that was left behind.
I remember when I used to run a small local shop and it was my job to lock up at the end of the day, I would check right through the shop to make sure that nobody was still in the shop. It was my worst worry that I would accidently lock somebody in all night. I also use to make sure that none of the customers had left anything behind because people often did that.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160677)
• United States
3 Dec
You are exactly right there. Make sure no one is left behind, or locked in.
1 person likes this
