Kindergartner Leaves School Bus Without Adult Supervision
By Carla Branch
alexandrianews.org
(Photo: Reagan Kireilis)
On Monday, a kindergartner at Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy got off a school bus after school one block from her home without an adult to pick her up. This is the second time this school year that a five-year-old has been allowed to get off a school bus without a parent or guardian to pick him/her up.
Last Thursday night, Rodney Salinas made an impassioned speech at the Alexandria School Board meeting. He spoke about his five-year-old son getting off a bus in an unfamiliar neighborhood and wandering the streets, alone and frightened. “Strangers saw him crying and took him to an apartment building in Arlandria. Someone there called Mt. Vernon Community School and a secretary gave that person my wife’s cell phone number,” Salinas said.
Salinas’ son wasn’t even supposed to be on a school bus. He was supposed to be taken to the Campagna Center’s supervised after school program, which is held at the school.
“First of all, why would anyone give personal information about my wife to a stranger? Why wouldn’t someone call us from the school? It was eight days before Dr. Coleman called to apologize to us.
“I am here tonight because I don’t want any other child or any other family to go through what my family has gone through. I hope that the school system can learn from this mistake and never let it happen again,” Salinas said.
Superintendent Dr. Morton Sherman and the members of the School Board assured Salinas that steps had been taken to prevent the error from occurring again. And yet, another five-year-old was left to walk a block from the bus stop to her home unsupervised. Policy says that if there is no adult to meet a kindergartner at the school bus, drivers are supposed to take the child back to the school, where parents will be called.
Deputy Superintendent Margaret Byess provided more detail about the incident. “A substitute bus driver was operating the bus on Monday and the child was not sitting with the kindergarten students as she should have been. The driver didn’t know her and didn’t know that she should have been picked up by a parent.
“As the driver was pulling away, the child’s mother flagged him down and got on the bus. The driver turned around, found the child and the mother got off the bus to escort her home.
“We have put new procedures in place to try and prevent situations like this from happening. Every kindergarten student is now required to have a sticker on their outer clothing that has a K on it and all kindergarten students are required to sit in front of the bus. Also, we are convening a group of staff and parents to look at best practices around the country. This group will make recommendations about policies that will ensure the safety of all of our children,” Byess said.
School Board Chair Yvonne Folkerts expressed her concern. “I expect our school system to improve how our students get on and off the school bus each day. Every Board member, every administrator, every teacher, every bus driver and every staff member of ACPS must work hard to insure the safety of our students. That’s number one,” she said. “The superintendent has issued new directives – beginning today and remaining for the rest of the year – which each school must follow. I expect nothing less.”
Members of the Alexandria City Council have heard from parents and want answers. “This is the second incident of this type that has occurred this year,” said Vice Mayor Kerry Donley at Tuesday night’s Council meeting. “I think we should hear from someone in the school system about what they are doing to make certain that this doesn’t happen again. As the old saying goes: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”