After being picked up at about 6:40 a.m. and traveling to Stars Pre-K, Harper said the bus driver had to walk to the back of the bus to turn off flashing lights that come on every time the bus gets parked, but turned to the right to turn off the lights and did not see the student on the left, returning to the school bus barn and leaving him on the bus.
“Fortunately this driver has about an 11:30 a.m. run and when she got back to the bus she discovered the child, brought the child to the pre-k center, the pre-k center initiated care for the child, checking on him, seeing how he was doing,” Harper said. “We made contact with the parent on Friday, both from the school and transportation department, and we met with the parent that following Monday.
“Unfortunately a child was left on the bus. It was a terrible situation that should not have occurred, but it did, and as human beings sometimes we make a mistake. We were fortunate we had good weather that day and the child was fine.”