YOUNGSTOWN Bus takes pupil to wrong site

The girl was taken to her new home address, but no one was there.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city school district is investigating why a 7-year-old pupil was bused to an empty home after an after-school program at North Elementary School.
The girl's mother, Lareane Rue, said her daughter was taken to the wrong address. She called the experience traumatic and said she and her husband spent two hours wondering where the child was.
She has told school board members that she wants an apology for the girl and a three-day suspension for the bus driver.
"They lost her," she said. "What are they going to do, wait until a child is found murdered or raped?"
Under review
The North Elementary School principal and the district's transportation supervisor are reviewing what happened when the child was taken to a home address instead of to a baby sitter's earlier this month, said Superintendent Benjamin L. McGee.
"There were a lot of people involved. We will carefully investigate," McGee said.
He said a goal is to determine where there may have been miscommunication. He could not comment on any disciplinary action that may have taken place, saying it would be a confidential personnel matter.
The girl was part of an after-school reading program, and her mother had requested that she be taken to a baby sitter's house afterward, Rue said.
Home address
On the first day the girl participated, McGee said, a bus driver took her to her home address, a new one for the family. No one was there.
Rue said the driver saw her enter a screened-in porch area and must have assumed she was safe. The girl was locked out of the home's main area, however, and no one else was there.
McGee said the standard practice is for drivers to bus pupils "door to door" on evenings after after-school programs. Rue said the driver ignored the practice and did not make sure her daughter was safe.
McGee said the district is acting to "shore things up" so there are no further transportation snafus. The district's practice is to take children only to their home addresses, he said. This practice prevents errors from happening, especially in the case when a substitute driver is on a route.
Apology accepted
While an investigation continues, Rue said she thinks the district has resolved the problem on her end. Apologies were made to her and her daughter. The child no longer attends the after-school program but is permitted to partake in the same reading activities during the school day.
Rue is thankful her daughter found her way to a neighbor's home. "We're glad she didn't get hurt," she said.
viviano@vindy.com