6-Year-Old With Special Needs Left Alone on RI School Bus - “Unacceptable,” Says Father
GoLocalProv News Team and News Editor Kate Nagle
6-Year-Old With Special Needs Left Alone on RI School Bus - “Unacceptable,” Says Father
The incident happened on Thursday in Narragansett.
“My daughter went to school [and she fell] asleep on the bus,” said Brent Butterworth. “The bus monitor and driver left her on the bus, didn’t realize she was there.”
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GoLocal spoke with Butterworth following the incident.
“Unacceptable”
“I found out by the principal calling us,” said Butterworth. “We had to call the transportation department ourselves [to try and get answers].”
“This is definitely not acceptable. When we talked with [school officials], and we kept going around in circles, with them saying, ‘Oh, this could have been worse, she seemed fine, the bus driver seems the most upset about this.’ I don’t think so,” said Butterworth. “I’m still processing this. So she just wakes up alone…what is she thinking? There was no one around her.”
According to Butterworth, he felt that Narragansett schools tried to downplay what took place.
“I think they did make light of it. I want to know what the responsibility of the bus monitor is. I get she’s helping handicapped kids on and off the bus. There are three other kids on the bus with wheelchairs,” said Butterworth. “Maybe the question I should have asked is for the employee code of conduct."
Butterworth says his daughter “doesn’t process things like you or I would.”
“She got on the bus on Friday and went to school,” he added. “But she might process things three weeks later and say hey, ‘I’m not getting on the bus.’ Because it might just pop up in her head at a later date and time”
GoLocal reached out to Narragansett officials regarding the incident, and received a response from Narragansett Schools’ Communications Manager Lauren Ruggiero.
“The Narragansett School System manages all aspects of transportation for our students, including bus routes, driver assignments, and the establishment of safety protocols. Our transportation services are overseen by our district’s transportation department,” said Ruggiero.
“The incident occurred when a bus driver failed to follow our established safety protocols during the end of the morning bus run, which included ensuring that all students had safely exited the bus before completing the route," she continued. "Unfortunately, this standard was not maintained, and a student was unintentionally left on the bus for a very brief period. The driver responsible for this oversight has been dismissed as a result of the failure to uphold our safety standards.”
“We deeply regret that this incident occurred and understand the distress it caused for the student and her family. The safety of our students is always our top priority, and we have taken immediate corrective action,” said Ruggiero. “Our district has reviewed our protocols to ensure that this does not happen again, and we are working closely with our transportation team to reinforce these measures.”
Butterworth said he is still looking for answers as to how long his daughter was left unattended.
“We’re really supposed to take their word [my daughter] was only on there for 10, 15, 20 minutes, and she’s lying about it?” said Butterworth. “I’d really like video footage of this.”