05/31/2007

Mother has questions after son is left on bus

3-year-old falls asleep, ends up at bus garage

By Christine Finger

cfinger@record-eagle.com

Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Nicole Anderson-Wilder holds her son Emery, 3, at their home in Blair Township. While riding a bus on his way to a Traverse City Area Public Schools early childhood program, Emery fell asleep and did not get off at the school.

TRAVERSE CITY — The mother of a Traverse City Area Public Schools student wants to know why her son's school bus trip ended at the garage instead of the classroom.

Nicole Anderson-Wilder said she took her 3-year-old son Emery, who attends a TCAPS early childhood program, to the bus stop at about 8:40 a.m. on Tuesday and watched him board. But his school called her just after 10:30 a.m. to report that he hadn't arrived.

"Of course, I'm panicking,” she said.

Anderson-Wilder called the district's transportation department and found out her son was at the TCAPS bus garage.

"Turns out he had fallen asleep on the bus and he hadn't gotten off,” she said.

The incident left Anderson-Wilder with plenty of questions, including how it was possible that no one noticed her son didn't exit with his fellow students. She wants the bus driver to face discipline for failing to check for her son. She also suggested the district reevaluate its procedures to ensure the incident isn't repeated.

Christine Davis, TCAPS executive director of human resources, said the district is examining events that led to the boy being left on the bus. She said she was alerted Tuesday morning by the transportation department about what occurred.

"We are looking into it as we speak. We look at how did it happen and how could we prevent it in the future,” she said. "They brought him in safely and his mother came to pick him up.”

Davis said bus driver procedures call for checking to make sure all passengers are off the bus when it returns to the garage. The driver involved has no history of disciplinary problems, she said.

Anderson-Wilder said she will provide her own transportation to school from now on.

"I just think other parents should know what is going on,” she said. "He's not going to be riding the bus anymore.”