A 3-year-old student was left on a North Lamar school bus last Thursday for most of the day according to reports. The child, who is enrolled in the early childhood program at Higgins Elementary, was found mid-afternoon by maintenance staff in a fenced parking lot, sitting in the driver’s seat.
North Lamar ISD Superintendent James Dawson said that both, the bus driver and the school bus monitor, had been fired over the incident.
Bus drivers and bus monitors are required to do a walk-through of buses following each run to insure that all students have exited the vehicle.
The bus monitor said she unlatched the child’s seat belt, and that the child left the school bus according to school officials.
Dawson said that the school district would be adopting new policies that would require a campus principal or other staff employees to inspect each school bus again following bus routines.
“Providing responsible transportation to and from a safe learning environment for all students who ride our buses is a top priority for our school district,” the superintendent told reporters. “I guess [the bus monitor] thought he got off the bus,” Dawson said.
The incident was reported to Child Protective Services, by Dawson, as well as Paris Police Department resource officer Mike Boaz on campus, North Lamar ISD board president Gary Hilliard, and each member of the school board.
Paris Police Chief Bob Hundley confirmed that the police department had been notified of the incident, and that the incident is now under investigation.
“North Lamar ISD will continue to evaluate other measures in order to assure that another such incident will not occur,” Dawson said.
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