Atwec Technologies Inc (ATWT)

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Just was doing some DD to see if their were any articles of children left behind on school buses. So I thought I'd post them. Does seem to be an issue IMO.

The following are stories reported across the country of children being accidentely left on school buses:



Child left on bus
Updated: 5/20/2005 5:26 AM
By: Al Nall, News 10 Now Web Staff

NewYork
Courtsy of http://news10now.com

#3Deaf, blind child left unattended on city bus
From: Montgomery Advertiser, AL - Apr 21, 2005

By Kirsten J. Barnes
Montgomery Advertiser

A 13-year-old child with cerebral palsy, who is deaf, blind and mute, was left unattended on a locked bus Wednesday afternoon, his mother said.

Christian Moore attends an afterschool program at the Therapeutic Recreation Center on Augusta Street, run by the City of Montgomery Parks & Recreation. On Wednesdays, the group attends a field trip using Parks & Recreation buses.

"My son was found alone, sitting in the bus, about 6:20 that evening. He can't speak. They didn't even miss him," said Thelma Richardson. "When I got there no one even saw him. All the teachers said no one saw him from 2:30 until I got there."

The center's director Fredrick Thomas, confirmed that the incident did happen. "Basically it's under review right now. But we're in the process of trying to identify exactly why the child was left and we're in the process of putting policies in place to make sure this does not happen again"

Copyright © 1997- 2005 The Advertiser Co.







Five-year-old Diamond Jackson plays near her home as though nothing unusual happened to her
this day. But just a few hours earlier, she says she was scared and left alone on the bus that takes her to school.


"I was scared and then I didn't get off the bus and then somebody got me off the bus and then I said I need some help," she said.



Diamond attends PEACE Incorporated's Head Start program on Hudson Street. The bus normally drops her off here by the entrance. Michele Lewis, Diamond's mom, says she wanted to cry when her daughter told her what happened.

"She's screaming and crying and saying somebody help me. That hurts to hear my daughter tell me that," Lewis said.

Lewis herself volunteers as a bus monitor for PEACE. She doesn't understand how something like this could have happened and says it's inexcusable. PEACE Incorporated agrees and is investigating the incident. Child and Youth Services Director Lisa Alford says they a have a redundant system of checks to prevent such things from happening.



"We have another staff person who should be walking that bus to make sure that there's no child left on the bus and then the driver is generally the last person who would get on to check and make sure that bus is clear and then turns the sign that says bus empty," Alford said.



Alford says such events are extremely rare and the organization's double loop system works 99% of the time.



Once the investigation is complete, any staff member who failed in his or her responsibility will be disciplined. PEACE Incorporated says it will follow up with Lewis in a day or so to make sure Diamond is okay.




Mother of child left on bus hopes lesson is learned
Thursday, May 19, 2005
By Kym Reinstadler and Nate Reens
The Grand Rapids Press

Courtesy of http://www.mlive.com


ZEELAND—The mother of a 3-year-old preschooler left on a Zeeland Public Schools bus for three hours Wednesday hopes school officials can use the experience to prevent other children from being stranded alone.


Skylar Elzinga, however, won't be boarding a district bus for the rest of the week as school officials investigate why she was left aboard, strapped in a harness, when others were dropped off at the Early Childhood Center. The special-education student was not injured.



"She will not be riding the bus (today)," said Darla Elzinga, Skylar's mother. "I'm afraid to put her right back on there, obviously, but she'll be back on next week.


"I know everyone feels terrible about this, and it is upsetting that she was sitting there restrained for so long. I wonder what she was thinking. I don't think there's an excuse for what happened, but I think it can be a learning experience."



Superintendent Gary Feenstra suspended two veteran bus drivers pending an investigation by district officials. Elzinga said she hopes the unidentified drivers, one with 18 years on the job and the other a six-year veteran, keep their positions.



School officials said Skylar, who was picked up about 8 a.m. Wednesday, was left on the bus by one driver who did not notice her slumped in a rear seat while other children were unloaded at the daycare center.



The first driver parked the bus at the district's garage for almost three hours before a second driver took that bus back to the ECC, and spotted her about 11 a.m. while preschoolers boarded to go home, Feenstra said.



When Skylar arrived home, Elzinga could tell she was upset. Her daughter repeated the words "stuck" and "not fair," the mother said. The girl, who has a limited vocabulary, suffered a stroke at birth that also limits the use of her right hand.



Minutes later, Feenstra arrived at the family's home and told Elzinga her daughter was discovered asleep in her safety harness on the bus.



"We're relieved the child wasn't harmed in any way, but a lot of people here are very upset that it happened," Feenstra said.



ECC staff noticed Skylar's absence Wednesday morning and phoned her home, but no one answered, Feenstra said. The 3-year-old was ill the day before, leading instructors to think she may be out sick a second day.



The two drivers, who both failed to check the bus during their shifts, will remain suspended until the investigation is complete, which could be as early as today. Zeeland drivers are supposed to follow an end-of-run protocol that involves walking to the back of the bus and checking every seat for children and their belongings.



But there is no district policy requiring drivers to document that protocol, and drivers don't hang an "empty" sign in the back window -- a policy adopted by some districts.



Zeeland does require drivers to submit a completed checklist at the beginning of each run, which shows they have made sure the bus is in good working order, Feenstra said. He said both drivers have excellent work records.



Four similar incidents have occurred in Ottawa and Kent counties over the past four years, including a 3-year-old left on a Holland Public School bus in spring 2003.



Elzinga said she appreciated the district's candor and said her daughter was only mildly traumatized.



"The most upsetting thing to her was that the other kids got to go to school and she didn't," Elzinga said.





Child left on bus; three suspended
May 18, 2005
By Jackie Leatherman, Tribune
Scottsdale, AZ
Courtesy of http://www.eastvalleytribune.com



Three Queen Creek school employees have been placed paid, administrative leave pending an investigation into special-needs student being stranded on a school bus for nearly three hours Monday morning.



"It’s a real serious accident and the gravity of the problem that occurred is pretty heavy," Queen Creek Unified School District Superintendent James Murlless said Tuesday during a school board study session.

"I think we owe it to those parents that that never happens again," Murlless said.

A 4-year-old Desert Mountain Elementary School student was picked up from his home at 8:45 a.m.

After the school bus—designed and equipped for special-needs students—dropped students off at school, it was parked at the bus barn until the driver reentered the bus for an 11 a.m. route to take students home.

It wasn’t until the bus arrived back at the school to take the children home that the sleeping student was found.

The student, accompanied by his mother, was treated and released from the hospital, Murlless said.

District spokeswoman Laura Metcalfe could not immediately confirm the name of the hospital or treatment the student received.

Murlless said bus drivers are trained to follow regulations that include checking empty buses for sleeping students.

"It’s all spelled out pretty clearly in the regulations," he said.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is also investigating the incident.





Another student left on bus
May 5, 2005

Elisabeth Nardi
DAILY HERALD
Provo, UT

Courtesy of http://www.harktheherald.com



It has been four months since a special needs child was left alone on an Alpine School District bus, and Tuesday it happened again.



It is the fourth such incident in the district in just over 18 months. The transportation director is calling it "horrifying," and the boy's mother says he won't be riding the bus again.



For about 30 minutes Tuesday, 4-year-old Christopher Glodowski, whose family calls him "Bubba," was left on an empty school bus—in his wheelchair, blind and unable to communicate clearly.



On Tuesday, the Eagle Mountain boy was picked up at 11:30 a.m. from Dan Peterson School in American Fork, a special education school he attends. When Bubba didn't arrive home around 1 p.m. like he usually does, his parents got worried. His mother, Karla Glodowski, called school officials, who in turn called the district's transportation department. Transportation officials called the bus driver, who found Bubba in the bus that had been parked outside the driver's home. The bus was parked there because the driver was taking a break between the afternoon run.



Glodowski is especially upset because her son is never left alone. Bubba was in a car accident two years ago and suffered brain damage during surgery after his brain was deprived of oxygen. He also has cerebral palsy and can't feed himself.



And though there was no harm to Bubba, and he was returned to his parents, Glodowski can't help but wonder what might have happened. She also doesn't understand how neither the driver nor the driver's aide, who is required on all special needs buses, didn't hear her son. Even though he doesn't speak, he is very "vocal," she said.



"He makes a lot of noise, so it's hard for me to understand why they didn't hear him," she said. "It's hard for me to think they didn't hear him because…these are really small buses."



They are 16 feet long, to be exact.



Alpine School District officials said Wednesday that an investigation is under way. Part of the Alpine School District policy says that any driver or driver's aide who leaves a child on a bus could be terminated.



The driver who left Bubba was a substitute driver for the day. Substitutes are used when drivers take time off, but the aide was the same one that is always on Bubba's bus route. Both the driver and the aide apparently didn't check the bus to make sure all children had been dropped off, said Dick Belliston, transportation director for Alpine School District. It's something he finds unacceptable.



"It's a horrifying experience," he said. "We got (in touch with) the driver, and it was a very short time frame that the boy was on the bus, but I guess that depends on which end of it you are on—either way that's a half-hour too long."



After three similar incidents over the past year and a half, the district implemented new procedures to try to ensure that it would never happen again.



Those procedures included putting flags in every bus that stick to the bus's back window. When a driver is through with a run, those flags are supposed to be brought to the front, Belliston said. It's supposed to ensure that drivers are at the very least walking to the back of their buses.



For special needs drivers and aides, even more strict procedures were put in place. Every time a special needs child is picked up and dropped off, the driver has a roll sheet. The driver is supposed to check off which children are picked up, where the child is dropped off and who the child was left with. Those rolls are turned in at the end of every week so there is an accounting of where each special needs child has been, Belliston said.



Belliston will determine if there are more procedures that need to be put in place. But he has warned the drivers of the consequences for not following procedure, and that in the end it is up to them to follow protocol.



"I don't know how we could be more clear with our expectation and how we could safeguard procedures more than that," he said. "We did the flags, the roll call, we made people as accountable as we can make them and will continue to do that, and if there are other ways, other things we can do to make it better, we will."



Tuesday's incident is the fifth incident in five years, though all were different schools and different drivers. None of the parents are pursuing legal action. But after the incident in January, police did launch an investigation after the Utah County Sheriff's Office learned of the other children that had been left on Alpine School District buses. The investigation didn't turn up evidence of negligence so no charges were ever pressed.



On Wednesday, Sgt. Spencer Cannon of the Utah County Sheriff's Office who handled the case when the 5-year-old was left in January, said he was shocked to learn it had happened again.



"I thought 'You have got to be kidding me,' " he said.



Since the child was left in a bus in a city and not in unincorporated Utah County, where the bus depot is and where many of the other kids have been left, an investigation would not necessarily fall into the jurisdiction of the Sheriff's Office, Cannon said.



Nevertheless, Cannon planned to mention it to the detectives who had worked on the case a few months ago, he said.



As for Bubba, he will not be riding the bus ever again, especially if the district doesn't do something to ensure her child's safety, Karla Glodowski said.



"They said they are doing their best. I just wonder what it is going to be like the next time it happens and somebody dies—how are they going to say they did their best?" she said. "Having it happen over and over again, there is something wrong."





Deaf, blind child left unattended on city bus
April 21, 2005
By Kirsten J. Barnes
Montgomery Advertiser
Montgomery, AL

Courtesy of http://www.deaftoday.com



A 13-year-old child with cerebral palsy, who is deaf, blind and mute, was left unattended on a locked bus Wednesday afternoon, his mother said.



Christian Moore attends an afterschool program at the Therapeutic Recreation Center on Augusta Street, run by the City of Montgomery Parks & Recreation. On Wednesdays, the group attends a field trip using Parks & Recreation buses.



"My son was found alone, sitting in the bus, about 6:20 that evening. He can't speak. They didn't even miss him," said Thelma Richardson. "When I got there no one even saw him. All the teachers said no one saw him from 2:30 until I got there."



The center's director Fredrick Thomas, confirmed that the incident did happen. "Basically it's under review right now. But we're in the process of trying to identify exactly why the child was left and we're in the process of putting policies in place to make sure this does not happen again."






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#2
Crosby Elementary School kindergartner Richie Wabnitz, 5, was left on a school bus in the driver's driveway. His mother, Bonnie, wants some answers from school officials.
BUS DRIVER GUIDELINES

Although many parents wonder whether their kindergartner is ready to ride the bus on his own, most school officials say they're usually mature enough.

Bus drivers are given procedures by their school districts and guidance from federal and state authorities. The Ohio Department of Education allows each district to write policies to ensure that students aren't left on buses.

The National Highway Safety Traffic Administration guidelines give bus drivers these tips:
Don't rush and skip part of the loading and unloading procedures, even if you're late on a route.
Don't deal with on-bus problems when loading or unloading students.
Count and recount students at every bus stop every day. Know how many should get on at a bus stop. Count them as they get off.
If you can't account for a student outside the bus, secure the bus and then check around and under the bus.

For school bus safety tips for parents: www.nhtsa.dot.gov/CPS/newtips/pages/Tip10.htm
HARRISON - Southwest Local Schools officials said they are investigating how a kindergartner was left alone on one of their school buses for a half-hour while the vehicle was parked at a driver's home.

The boy was discovered and taken back to school unharmed, but his mother said Tuesday that she wants to know why the school took more than two hours to notify her about the incident and what the school will do to prevent such mistakes in the future.

Five-year-old Richie Wabnitz, of Harrison, took his usual bus to half-day kindergarten at Crosby Elementary about noon Monday when the bus driver, a substitute, inadvertently let the children off on the side of the school near the playground, instead of in front of the school, where their teacher was waiting.

Most of the kindergartners got off the bus and walked around to the front, but Richie thought it safer to stay on the bus and wait to be taken to the proper drop-off site, said Bonnie Wabnitz, his mother.
Instead, the bus driver, whom the school will not identify, drove the bus to her home, about 10 minutes away, and parked it in her driveway.

Wabnitz said school officials told her that it was not correct procedure; the driver was supposed to check every seat in the bus and then drop the bus off at a lot near Harrison High School. Southwest district officials Tuesday issued a statement, saying "policies and procedures may not have been followed" and that the district is investigating before taking "appropriate measures."

Richie sat on the bus for about 20 to 25 minutes, Wabnitz said, crying and afraid, until he got up enough courage to go to the bus driver's front door and knock.

The driver took him to school and left him with office staff, who informed his teacher.

The kindergarten teacher later told Wabnitz that she had noticed Richie was absent, but was delayed in finding out why because of a school fire drill.

Wabnitz said the school didn't call her about the incident until after 2:30 p.m.

Wabnitz reported the incident to a Hamilton County sheriff's deputy, who wrote an "information only" report, which does not include any child endangerment charges but is a notice for law enforcement to be aware in case of another incident, sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett said.

Wabnitz, a widow and part-time waitress, said she didn't know how traumatic it was for Richie until he came home Monday night and wouldn't let her out of his sight.

Now he's too afraid to ride the bus.

"Anything could have happened," Wabnitz said. "Had (the driver) gone to McDonald's or parked on the street instead of her driveway, he could have been lost or stolen, and we wouldn't have known."

Wabnitz said she is gluing a photo of her son with his name, address and phone number onto his backpack.
And she'll be driving him to school from now on.