Student With Special Needs Left on School Bus and Forced to Hitchhike 30 Miles Home... Twice

[WhiteTara]

Source: yahoo

Twice in one week, a Florida student with special needs was abandoned on the school bus and forced to hitchhike 30 miles home, officials say.

The 13-year-old fell asleep on the bus ride home from school. Surveillance video taken inside the bus shows driver Gale Brown joking while attendant Gwendolyn Simmons supposedly checks the seats, but walks right past the student.

The women leave the bus, and video surveillance captures the student waking up and finding himself alone. He then grabs his backpack, climbs on a seat, and escapes through a window.

Cops say he walked and hitchhiked 30 miles home.

According to Sheriff Grady Judd from the Polk County Sheriff's department, the student went to school the next day and told Simmons that they left him on the bus. Simmons did not believe him.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/student-special-needs-left-school-162200931.html

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Oh Floriduh

Oops fixed link

[hobbit709]

1. There should be a job search in the future for two idiots

[StrayKat]

2. Your link goes to an article on Kim Jong Un.

[WhiteTara]

7. fixed. thanks

[earthshine]

3. Link does not match the post. Fix your link. nt

[WhiteTara]

6. fixed. thanks

[elleng]

4. 'Simmons did not believe him.'

Right, the kid made it up!

DUH is a KIND way to put it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. I am sure the lawsuit will wake the school up. n/t

[Contrary1]

5. Here's the link to story:

http://news.yahoo.com/student-special-needs-left-school-162200931.html

[LisaM]

8. Charter school. Sigh.

When I was growing up, we knew our bus drivers and they knew every kid on the route. I don't know all the specifics here, but I do know that cutting money for bus drivers is always at the top of budget lists, and here we're adding in that it's a charter school, so who knows what they pay their bus drivers and where they get them.

Every time I see a story like this my blood boils. If we want bus drivers to do a good job for our kids, we need to do a good job by them, too. It's got to be a thankless task these days.

I'm not necessarily excusing the behavior of the driver and aide. They should have seen the kid and really checked the seats. But it's another example of all the corner-cutting we do in the education system (30 miles seems like a really long bus ride, too, for a 13-year old).

[Octafish]

10. US Department of No Education

This story just makes me want to cry for that kid and my country.

[dhill926]

9. fuck is wrong with people....

jaysus...

[HuckleB]

11. WTF?

[valerief]

12. I'm thinking now of the posts of when people leave their babies in their cars and the

Last edited Mon Mar 14, 2016, 07:42 PM - Edit history (1)

babies die. I've been critical of those people, and, sure as shit, apologists for them come out of the woodworks on DU.

I wonder if those baby-neglecter apologists will defend these special needs teen-neglecters, too.

[threethirteen]

15. Well, the kid didn't die.

But how lucky for him that: 1) he knew his way home; 2) he made it home safely. Had something happen, or if it is revealed that something happened, then they should be punished to the full extent of the law.

[valerief]

16. I know the kid didn't die. My point was about the neglect and DU apologists for neglect. nt

[petronius]

19. It's rather different I would say: I do feel empathy when people

are out of their routine, perhaps distracted, and leave a child. (I feel no empathy when people choose to leave a child.)

In this case though, the whole point of driving a bus is to transport children, they are on-board as a matter of course, and all of the habits and procedures are designed to get them on/off as appropriate. Such a fundamental fuck-up (twice!) by a professional is not the same as the scenario of the, for example, different-parent-driving overlooking a sleeping child.

So, I will be inclined to offer more defense for the one case than the other (although in all cases my primary concern/empathy will be for the child, along the lines of 99-1)...

[yourpaljoey]

13. Toss these bastards in jail... and forget about them for a few months

[Dont call me Shirley]

17. Privatized charter schools are sucking the lifeblood from the public education system which leads

to episodes like this boy had to endure TWICE!

[csziggy]

18. Orlando Sentinel story - with video from bus

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-florida-bus-driver-attendant-arrested-20160310-story.html

Not only is there a driver the second adult is a "bus attendant" - neither checked all the seats and simply walked by the sleeping student without noticing them. The child-reminder system that is supposed to prevent this kind of thing had also been deactivated.

While I don't like Sheriff Grady Judd I agree with his comments on this case:

"This was entirely avoidable - the Polk County School Board is committed to keeping our children safe, equipping school buses with the latest technology to ensure children are not left behind. These two suspects completely disregarded all safety measures, and endangered a 13-year-old special needs student — there is absolutely no excuse for this type of neglect," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-florida-bus-driver-attendant-arrested-20160310-story.html