What the h**l r peopke thinking about this?

Question

because of legal issues not ALL can be told at this time.... I just wanted for this story to be heard around the world! So please keep this page so u can see the updates as they unfold

Answer 1

It makes me feel very blessed that I live one block from my sons school and can walk to get him. Thank God for that lady. There needs to be a bus attendant on every bus making sure kids are getting were they need to go.

Answer 2

This is not that shocking. Remember that thousands of kids get home safely every day. At six this child should have been taught her address, and she should have known that wasn't her stop. I'm not blaming a child, but I'm not putting all the blame on a bus driver either. A driver has a list of every stop. In our school system a kid can't get off at any other stop but his own, even if he has a note from Mom. Teach your child what his bus stop looks like. He or she should be able to look at the driver and say That's not my stop, and she would have been taken back to school if there were any doubt.

What I find the most disturbing is our unwillingness to help a child who is alone, but then again, I have tried that a few times and had parents yell at me. I'm not a kid either. Children shouldn't be wandering around on their own. We should know where our children, especially the tiny ones, are all the time. Added to the idea that a child can't get off on just any stop, in this area, in elementary school a child isn't even dropped off at his own stop if there is no one there waiting for him.

I remember well our kids saying the substitute bus driver didn't know the stops and the kids were helping her by yelling them out. I feel that a big part of this news story is missing.  

Answer 3

omg that is so bad, chill out

Answer 4

Wow, i would be unimaginably pissed off if that happened to my daughter.

I'm no sue-happy person, but i would sue their asses off.  

Answer 5

I know. Something similar happened to me. They dropped the whole bus off on the side of a main rode, ages from  5 to 12. It was snowy and didn't think he can make it up and down the hills. Yea i can understand that, but we have an emergency stop if there is a snow day, and the parents need to pick up there children there. Here we are all getting off the bus. All scared. Me and my friend took charge (we were 12, we all have no cell phones. cause i few years ago, elementary kids did not have sell phones) And i gathered my Little sister 5, and my friends, and the person my mom babysat, we basically all got off, and stood there watching our bus leave, and we all wet in different groups, we split up, us older ones talked. These hills are dangerous in the winter, cars slide out and hit in to the retainer walls on the side (the reason why they are there) And we were standing right next to them. Little kids were not dressed r th weather kids were losing there shoes in the snow. The 5 year old were crying. And there we are walking. I was scared being the one of the leaders. There is about 30 people on the bus. And some had to work 2 miles, or more. It was horrible. And everyone fought but no one won. The bus driver still drives today. its so wrong.

Ooo and we were dropped off on the total opposite end of the snow emergency stop, we were dropped off on the dangorous side.

Answer 6

I'm very glad that the child was okay, and a nice person brought her home.  I'm sure it was very scary for her.  I don't know who the blame would lye with though.  Was it the first day of school?  If it wasn't did the bus stop at her stop before?  Was she on the right bus?  Did she just not realize they passed her stop.  I do fault the bus driver for making her get off the bus.  My mother drove bus almost the entire time i was in school, so I never had a problem, now my Mother-in-law drives bus, so when my kids go to school she will be driving them, and I won't have to worry.  

Answer 7

What a scary situation for that child!

In reply to a previous answer, just because she is in first grade does not mean it is her second year riding the bus.  The family could have moved, or the child could have gone to a private kindergarten program, etc.

I do not believe that, based on teh information given, the busdriver should be reprimanded.  From what is in the article, the child got off the bus willingly.  This is why parents should be waiting for their children-especially the younger ones-at bus stops.  The child can recognize the parent and know that is where they should get off the bus at.

I homeschool my children for a variety of reasons, but I have to say that teachers and other school personel are human and will make mistakes-and certainly at the beginning of a new school year it is difficult for them to know each child and where s/he is supposed to board and unboard at.

I am glad she is safe.  I am more mad at the driver's who passed her by than I am the bus driver...if you see a child walking down a busy highway alone, you can be sure something is not right.

Answer 8

I am thinking..umm ok..you're question is???

Answer 9

something similar happened to me, though i was around 8 or 9. it was  my first day at a new school, living with some friends of the family. they told me my bus was # 5 and i would be riding w/ their dd Christine in the mornings, but not in the afternoons. after school, I found bus #5. I couldn't remember the street name i was supposed to get off, but i remembered what the houses at my stop looked like, so i wasn't too worried...until all the other kids were off the bus and the driver still hadn't gotten to my stop! it was the middle of the school year, so the driver should have known my cousin. but i was on the wrong bus, so she did not know Christine. she drove to the next few streets, until i recognized my bus stop.

stuff like this happens. it's sad and the system needs to change for young kids b/c of obvious safety issues.

Answer 10

That is pretty scary... but if the mom is at home, why isn't she picking the daughter up in the first place? Thank God that a good person picked her up, and nothing bad happened.

I agree with some other comments too.. she should not have gotten off, if she knew enough of the area to walk home, then she should have said it wasn't her stop. Of course, she could be shy, but when the driver stopped, why did she go to the front? The driver probably didn't point her out or call her by name.

I also agree that the driver is human, in a few weeks she will probably know which kids get off where, but it is pretty early in the year.

Don't get me wrong, I would be terrified if this was my child. And I am very glad nothing bad happened.

Answer 11

I come from Australia and everything is so different here. We don't have school buses and if we saw a 6 year old on a bus alone, we would call human services.

I do agree this story is sad. Poor little girl must have been so frightened!

Answer 12

Ehh...believe it or not, but the same thing pretty much happened to me when I was a little kid. I was in pre-school too. I was sitting next to the window and when it got to my bus stop, I got up to leave but before I could make it out of my seat, the bus driver left. I was really short, so the bus driver didn't see me stand. So I went on a ride all over town. At the last stop, the bus driver finally noticed that I wasn't getting off so he called in and somehow he was able to bring me back home.

I guess I'm saying, perhaps something else happened that we don't know of. Mistakes happen all the time.

Answer 13

Yes, this is very sad. There are so many terrible things that could have happened to that little girl. I'm so glad that my son gets off at the first stop after leaving school.  

Answer 14

What the h**l were her parents thinking, allowing a child to be on the bus when she was unable to recognise the stop where she was supposed to get off?

She's six, not three. Unless the driver MADE her get off at the wrong place, then she is responsible. If she can't be responsible then it's up to her parents to ensure that the system is safe enough for her to use. You can't possibly expect a driver to remember every child and which stop they get off at, not this early on in the school year. It's the parents' responsibility to ensure that their child is ready for the system and to make alternative arrangements (or make a fuss and get the system changed) BEFORE something like this happens.

But oh no, let's get the driver fired. Nothing's ever the parents' responsibility any more. Sigh.

Answer 15

Honestly, I think the bus driver is human. It's the first week of school, she's learning many many new faces, not just the50 kids on her bus when she picked up for elementary school, but the 50 when she took kids to junior high and the 50 when she picked up for high school. I feel it's really the parent's responsibly to prepare their children for school. I took my child to her new school and we walked around. I showed her how to get to her classroom. We talked about the bus. She knew where to get on the bus and her bus number. I think it's really unfortunate this happens, but the bus driver can't be expected to remember each kid and where they get on and off the bus for the fist week or so.

Answer 16

As you said, because of legal issues all cannot be told.  There is not enough information to know whether the bus driver was at fault.

Was the route map correct and present.  Had alterations been made to the route map.  What is the bus company's policy towards letting children off the bus without an adult to receive them or towards making sure the correct child gets off at the correct stop. What training is provided to the drivers.  What training is provided to children riding the bus?  Did the child make any effort to communicate that the stop was not correct?

Yes the incident should be investigated and efforts made towards corrective measures, but firing the driver may or may not make any difference in the quality of bus service in the area. Given that this was only the second day of school, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered before one can reasonably say that bus driver needs to be fired.

I'm going to ignore for the moment the comments about what if with respect to: child abuctors, serial killers and rapists because really that is not a reasonably expected outcome of a misplaced child.  Bad persons are extremely rare.  It's not like every other person on the street and every third person in a car is just waiting to hurt a child.  Though responsible adults have a duty to protect children from harm, more significant is the duty not to cause harm so let's leave the outrage where it belongs raging against the criminal offenders who with intent cause harm.  Comments about what if she'd been abducted ect. are inflamatory and unrealistic.  Yes that sort of this happens but it would take a lot of improbably events lining up to have that happen as a result of a single missed bus stop.

Real forceable hazards did exist.  Traffic, nearby bodies of water, hazardous places to climb into, onto, hide in, ect, the distress of being lost.

Have you done everything you can to prepare your child? Have you reviewed your school districts bussing policies and made efforts towards change where you think they are inappropriate?

This has apparently happened quite often in the reported school district.  What are they doing for change rather than pointing the finger at one driver?  Unless it's always been this same driver...

Answer 17

That certainly is a scary thought, but the thought did cross my mind--why did she get off at the wrong stop?  It said she is in first grade, which most likely means this is her second year riding the bus.  How could she not recognize her own bus stop?

Thankfully she made it home okay, but in reality, it's the beginning of a new school year, and the bus drivers don't know all of the kids and their stops yet.  He/she can only assume that if a child is getting off at a certain stop that it's because the child recognizes it as their own.  Even if it were her first year riding the bus, she ought to recognize her own neighborhood.

EDIT:  Okay, well that's a different story, if the driver never went by her stop and then forced her to get off the bus at the wrong one.  But you didn't state that in your opening post, so it was rather unclear as to why she got off at the wrong stop.