Child left on bus causes Avoyelles School Board concern

An elementary student recently fell asleep on the bus on the way to school and was left unattended for over an hour. The driver had parked the bus without checking to ensure all children had disembarked.

This incident sparked some very serious concerns and comments at the Avoyelles School Board Bus Committee meeting on Nov. 13.

The committee was told this is the third time in three years a child has been left on the bus after the morning route.

Transportation Supervisor Brent Whiddon said all three incidents involved morning routes, where children have to wake up early to catch the bus to school. Children fell asleep in their seat and were not seen before the driver parked the bus.

Board member Chris LaCour was so upset that he talked about criminal charges of “child endangerment” being filed against bus drivers who fail to inspect the bus for sleeping or hiding children before leaving the bus.

“In this incident, the child never left campus,” Superintendent Blaine Dauzat said after the meeting. “We stress and re-stress the importance of post-trip inspections. We are super-stressing that point now.”

The Bus Committee has recommended installing a “safety button” at the back of the district’s older buses. The feature is already on newer buses.

The button requires the bus driver to physically walk to the back of the bus to deactivate an alarm that will sound if the bus door is opened after the engine is turned off.

Whiddon said this safety feature forces the driver to walk the bus aisle and to check all seats for sleeping or hiding children.

Whiddon is currently researching the cost to add the alarm to the older buses.

In the recent case, the bus driver delivered children to the school prior to the start of classes at 7:45 a.m. The driver parked the bus at the school and left. The 1st grader was asleep in his seat.
He woke up around 9 a.m., walked off the bus and knocked on a pre-school class door to ask for help in getting to his class.

This was how school officials became aware of the incident.

CRIMINAL CHARGES

LaCour told the committee he read a newspaper article about a Houston area incident in which a 9-year-old was left on a parked bus at the end of the day. That driver was charged with felony child endangerment. He asked District Attorney Charles Riddle if Louisiana law could also make it a crime for a bus driver to fail to ensure all children are off the bus before parking it.

“The district attorney told me that every case is different,” LaCour said. “It depends on circumstances, such as the age of the child, weather conditions at the time of the incident and whether it was caused by blatant neglect or if it was just an oversight.”

LaCour said Riddle told him that even if criminal charges are not filed, the incident should be investigated by either the Sheriff’s Office or municipal police department to determine if the circumstances merit criminal charges.

“Bus drivers need to know it is THAT serious,” LaCour said. “If a child is left on a bus and potentially suffers harm, it is too late.”

BE PROACTIVE

LaCour said he does not want the School Board “to wait until a child is hurt before we do something to prevent it from happening. We need to be more proactive than reactive in issues like this.”

Board member Shelia Blackman-Dupas was visibly shaken by the report, saying this kind of incident could result in a child being harmed or worse.

She said the School Board should have a “zero tolerance” policy for this type of incident.

Whiddon said bus drivers are well aware of the requirement to conduct post-trip inspections. It is part of the test for the Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and is emphasized several times during the year.

“Since this incident, we have sent driver’s two reminder emails,” Whiddon said.

Because the consequences could be so serious if a child were left on the bus -- especially on the afternoon route which may not end until after sunset at some times during the year -- “it warrants attention from the media and the public when it happens,” Whiddon said. “It shouldn’t happen.”