A California mother is livid after her eight-year-old daughter, who has severe autism, was dropped off at the wrong school.
An Elk Grove Unified bus driver was supposed to drop Julie Munoz’ daughter Gabby to Carroll Elementary in Elk Grove but was dropped off at Franklin Elementary instead.
Gabby is nonverbal, which made the incident even worse since she was unable to ask for help. She got off the bus and was left wandering around the campus by herself.
The only reason why teachers finally learned who she was is because her name was written inside her backpack.
Gabby always wears a special vest so bus drivers know she needs special attention, but she ended up having a different driver this time, due to a bus driver shortage. Their district alone has 35 less drivers than they normally do.
New drivers are sometimes unaware of Gabby’s needs, which is how this mix up happened.
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Munoz, along with other parents, say they are driving their own kids to school now instead of putting them on the bus to avoid an incident like this occurring again.
Munoz hopes changes will be made within the district to prevent situations like this and ensure the safety of their kids.
The district has since released a statement regarding the matter:
“On Wednesday morning, 10/27, during supervised student bus drop, school officials at Franklin Elementary school noticed a student who mistakenly deboarded their bus. School officials attempted to call out to the student as the student appeared confused, yet the student continued to progress onto campus. As soon as all students were safely in school, teachers notified the school’s administration that a Carroll Elementary student was on campus. School officials promptly notified Transportation, the student’s family and the administration team at Carroll Elementary School.
The student was never in harm’s way and was at all times safe within the gates of Franklin Elementary School. Teachers followed their check-in protocols and swiftly worked with the site administration team to correct the situation. Events like this are quickly resolved thanks to multiple check-in systems and procedures at every elementary school.
Appropriate action has been taken to review bus drop-off protocols with the applicable personnel.”
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Source: The Autism Site Blog
