Children Dropped Off By School Bus At The Wrong Places In Staten Island
Written by Deborah J Thomas
Filed under: Administrators, K-6, News, Parents, People Involved, School bus safety, School Safety Issues, Students
Parents are all up in arms in Staten Island right now, and I can’t really blame them. After the news about two special needs children being left at the wrong bus stops came out, no one can just keep quiet about the whole thing!
According to silive.com, a student from PS 25 was dropped of at the wrong location on Thursday of last week. Zhane Martin, an 11-year-old school girl from PS 25, was dropped off at a building in New Brighton. She repeatedly told the bus driver that she didn’t live there anymore, but the matron and the bus driver reportedly simply said “Oh well” and dropped her off anyway. Luckily, Zhane remembered her former neighbor’s apartment number and rang the doorbell. What happened was that the family had moved to Port Richmond, about 3 miles away the week before. While they had informed the school of their change of address, this was apparently not relayed to the special bus company that took Zhane home every once in a while when she participated in after school activities.
The other incident happened to a 6-year-old boy, who lives in New Springville. On Tuesday, he did not arrive at home by 12:30 pm, which was already 30 minutes late. The mother went looking for him, and it was only then that the school bus officials discovered that the boy had been left inside the bus, which was already docked at the depot.
Naturally, these incidents have made parents concerned about the safety measures that are set in place. To be fair to the school bus companies, they have issued statements as to the zero tolerance policy that they have, which puts at utmost priority the safety of the children. The involved people have been reprimanded, with the matron losing her job, and the bus driver being suspended.
While everything ended well, I can’t help but see this as a reminder to us parents as well. It is true that school bus companies, drivers, and matrons are responsible for our children on the road, but this does not mean that we should not remain vigilant. Any changes in information, no matter how minor, should be effectively relayed to all concerned. We should keep tabs on our children, know where they are, when they are supposed to get home, and so on. We simply cannot transfer all the responsibility to other people.
Don't miss another post -- subscribe by email or RSS today!