NATIONAL COALITION OF SCHOOL BUS SAFETY NEWS 2007

Busing Not as Simple as it Seems
3 Rialto Kids Left on Board in 2006
January 17, 2007

It seems strange that a school bus driver could park his bus and go home without realizing a child was still sitting inside.

But this scenario occurs more often than some parents might think. Kids might miss their stop after falling asleep on a long ride, and drivers might forget to check for them.

Rialto Unified School District drivers left a child alone on a bus three times in the past year. In the most recent incident, which occurred last July, a driver tried to sneak a child back into class midday after discovering the child had not gotten off the bus in the morning, said district spokeswoman Syeda Jafri.

Alan Ross, president of the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, said it's dangerous but not unusual for drivers to leave children on buses.

A day of caring for dozens of screaming children can leave drivers exhausted, Ross said.

"It's a very common problem," he said. "Bus drivers are human. And at the end of their shift, they're eager to get home."

Michelle Macias, a Rialto parent, said her daughter still goes to therapy two years after she was dropped off miles away from home by a Rialto bus driver.

Macias, 37, said schools need to do more to ensure children are safely transported. She said that after what happened to her daughter, friends and co-workers told her about similar incidents of negligence in other districts.

"Just from me investigating and me calling around, this happens everywhere," she said. "This happens a lot."

Ross said schools can use technology to help ensure bus drivers do not leave kids alone.

Schools could purchase safety systems that prevent drivers from deactivating their buses until they push a button or stamp a time card at the back of the vehicle. The systems might cost a couple hundred dollars per vehicle - money many districts are not willing to spend, Ross said.

Rialto Unified, which buses more than 3,000 students, is monitoring its transportation program to see how it can improve student safety, Jafri said.

Unlike many area districts that contract outside companies to bus children, Rialto Unified directly employs its drivers.

"That anybody would leave a child on the bus and try to sneak him back onto campus ... . That's absolutely inexcusable, that's absolutely intolerable," Jafri said.

"We take the allegations very seriously," she said. "It's about children."

Jafri said the district investigated each case and disciplined the drivers involved. She said because personnel decisions are private by law, she could not say whether the drivers still work for Rialto Unified.

The district instituted a new policy in April that requires drivers to sign out at the bus yard, certifying they have walked to the back of their vehicles to check for students.

Jafri said that although one driver left a child on a bus after schools implemented the policy, officials believe the new rules are effective because there have been no other incidents.

In San Bernardino City Unified School District, the county's largest, the last time a driver left a child on a bus was in September 2005, said Linda Hill, district spokeswoman. The district bused more than 11,000 kids in the 2005-06 school year, she said.

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