What can we do with a student on a summer afternoon?
It is a little after 4PM on a Friday afternoon. Most school and district offices are closed. A special needs student we were scheduled to drop off at 2 PM is still sitting in our transportation waiting room. No one was at the property when the bus arrived on time after classes.
The driver and bus aide secured the bus, activated the school lights, and used the wheelchair lift to unload the student. Procedure is to release the student to the parent or caregiver, but no one from the home is coming out to receive the child. Our driver is familiar with the family and found no one at the home after repeated knocks at the front door
Since the property is located on a small side street, traffic impact is minimal, but with flashing red school lights, we are in essence closing the street to road traffic.
Driver realizes the situation, and together with the bus aide, return the student to the school bus. Since the student is confined to a wheelchair, several minutes pass before securing is accomplished with the four point tie down. Once the student is safe and secure on the bus, the driver contacted the transportation office.
The transportation office responds to the driver with information to keep the student on the bus and continue route with remaining students. Optimistic hope is we make contact with student family before the route ends. Transportation team could return student after office confirms some one at the home to receive the child, and updates relevant contact information.
Sixty five minutes later the driver calls into the office for guidance after completing afternoon route. At this point, the office has reached out with all available means and still has no contact with the student family, or school officials who might have updated family contact information. The student is not able to communicate information and calls to listed school contacts and family members are unanswered. Our safety first mindset decides that our only solution is to bring the student to the transportation department. Knowing the student is safe is parliament to any future decision.
When the bus returns to the transportation compound, student is unloaded and brought into the lounge. As the afternoon wore off, drivers and bus aides involved with other routes begin to leave. Soon the last two camp and private school routes will return. The driver and bus aide have remained with the student as long as possible, but they have family obligations and need to leave for the day.
It is almost time to close the doors for the weekend and skeleton staff still remaining are anxious to begin their weekend. Not knowing if the family has access to special needs transportation requires that a driver and aide remain available to transport the student to the home.
One option is to place a call to 911 which will set off alarms everywhere. In an abundance of safety measures, and school regulations, any call to 911 from our department would alert district security, operations department and communications manager. With much of teaching staff on extended leaves of vacation during the hot summer months, it would be a major headache, but all options have been eliminated.
