The first day of kindergarten can be stressful for all parties involved. For parents, it’s the recognition that their child is growing older, reaching another milestone, and stepping further into the real world. For children, going to kindergarten may mean more socialization, new academic challenges, and even some increased responsibility, like remembering homework and getting on the school bus to go home in the evening.
One mother and son found out that a lot can go wrong in between the school, the bus, and a safe return home.
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'Well, my son's not here,' the mom said to the bus driver.
Nadine Penn sent her 5-year-old son Corey, who goes by CJ, to his first day of kindergarten in Katy, Texas, last week, Fox 26 reported. But in the afternoon, when she returned to the bus stop to pick him up, she learned that her son was not on the bus, as he should have been.
Nadine got on the bus and asked the driver, “Are you letting the kindergartners off the bus without a parent?” The driver responded, “I [assure] you, I don’t do that.” Nadine said, “Well my son’s not here.” The driver responded flippantly, “Well that’s all the kids.” Then the bus driver drove off without attempting to call anyone or offer further assistance.
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Other parents at CJ's school were also looking for their children.
Nadine rushed to the school, where she heard other parents looking for their children as well. “I was overhearing them saying a couple of buses were having to come back to the school because of overload,” Nadine said. She decided to go back to CJ’s bus stop, hoping that he would be dropped off during the second round. He still didn’t show up. At 4:30 p.m., more than an hour after he was supposed to be dropped off, CJ’s teacher called Nadine to say that a family brought him back to the school.
CJ told the family that he was lost.
While the family prevented anything from happening to CJ, he did a great job of advocating for himself as well. “He said he walked up to the people’s car, and they rolled the window down, and he told the dad, ‘I’m lost,'” Nadine explained. Instead of the correct bus stop, CJ was taken to an entirely different subdivision. He would have had to walk eight minutes and cross a main street in order to get home. CJ told Fox 26, “I just wandered in the second neighborhood.”
The school issued a statement to news media.
Since the mixup, Nadine said the school has not provided any explanation as to how this happened. “I don’t have answers. I still don’t know what the reason was. I don’t have any statements from them. It’s frustrating,” said Nadine. The school did issue a statement to Fox.
“The safety of our students is of the utmost importance. Upon learning of the situation, the District took swift action — remaining in constant communication with the family and the contracted bus company that services the route. This includes reviewing protocols and expectations with the company to prevent future incidents, as well as having district-level personnel monitor dismissal and bus picks-up today at the campus to ensure those expectations are met and that all students feel comfortable and safe while utilizing bus services,” the statement reads.
After news media reached out to the school, Nadine was granted a sit-down conversation with the assistant principal, KHOU-11 reports. “I think that they kind of, they didn’t want to own up to what happened,” Nadine said.
Nadine wishes she could reach out to the family that helped her son.
Nadine does have a message for the family that helped CJ. But she has no way to contact them. “I really wish I knew who the family was, so I could thank them, because they really saved my kid’s life,” she said. “If it wasn’t for that family, I may have not ever seen him again,” Nadine told KHOU-11.
