Mark E. Vogler wrote an article on Eagle Tribune which really caught my eye. The title “Company denies leaving child alone” really worried me as I work with toddlers everyday at a center for child development. Mark describes in his article that a 2 year old child got stuck on a bus for more than two hours Friday. His mother was at home waiting for her son to get dropped off from the day care center he attends. Freddy Recio, the owner of Transerve Inc. a transportation company told police the child was never left alone on the bus.

Ynes (the driver of the bus) says she was running late on Friday and was not familiar with the addresses on her route. A worried mother of a two year old son who was supposed to be home by 415 after leaving the day care center at 330 called the center and bus company numerous times asking where her son was at. The bus company dispatcher told the mother the buses were parked and cleared and there was no child on them. But why wasn’t her son home? Why did it take them two hours later to call this mom with an answer. The kid was finally found and the same bus driver drove the boy back to the daycare where they asked his mother to meet them to be reunited. The mother still asks where her child was and I believe this is question that must be answered.

Mark says the mom told the authorities her son was sleeping and full of throw-up. What disturbed me the most about this article was how clueless this driver and the company where about the kids whereabouts. When the dispatcher called the driver to find out whether she had a boy on the bus from the day care center, Ynes said no- that she had a girl from the day care and a boy from the YMCA in Methuen. The bus driver thought the boy was a girl because he had long hair fastened into a pony tail. The dispatcher called the mother to ask if her son had long hair which she kept in a ponytail. The dispatcher Mary now knew the mother’s child was being mistaken for a female by the driver and immediately called the driver. She told her to bring the boy to the center where his mom would be. What’s not making sense to me is why the driver (who was working her first day at the company) was left alone and not accompanied by a monitor.

The writer left me wanting more information. Unfortunately this is not the first time it’s happened. I see it all the time in the newspaper and all over the news on TV. Kids are being left alone in the bus after school and I just don’t seem to understand how or why. I believe that there should be steps to prevent this from ever happening again. I would assume that the bus drivers would back to the end of the bus before beginning their routes and after dropping off the children. How exactly does this even happen? The company can say whatever they want but that doesn’t mean it’s the truth. Why was Ynes (a new bus driver) left alone? Shouldn’t there be another monitor in the vehicle to assist. How and why did she not know if the child was a boy or a girl? Aren’t these drivers given a Emergency list or something to identify the kids. It’s not like this toddler would have been able to give out his address or name. The driver should be trained and penalized as well as the company.