Phew. All’s well that ends well. Nonetheless, a case of a “missing” child gave everyone quite a scare on the first day of classes at Athol Community Elementary School this year.
Despite fairly elaborate procedures to ensure elementary school pupils get home safely, one second grader apparently wound up on the wrong bus, fell asleep in the back after a tough day and wasn’t discovered by the bus driver until the end of her route.
But by then, the boy’s parents had called the school, worried he had gotten off the bus in the wrong neighborhood and may have gotten lost.
The parents thought their child was on Bus 307, but school and bus officials had him listed for Bus 312, the bus to which his teacher had escorted him after school let out. The office staff immediately called the bus company and notified the principal. The bus company called drivers of both buses. The early childhood director walked the perimeter of school in case the boy had wandered off somehow, the classroom teacher returned to school and the administrative assistant requested of bus company that every bus pull over and conduct a physical check. Athol Police Officer Erick Fredette responded and the parents went to the school.
Fredette was preparing to talk with parents when the bus company reported the child had been found, asleep on Bus 312.
Principal Shannon White-Cleveland, in reporting this incident, said, “it should be noted that the child was never outside the care of an approved adult.”
As a follow up, school officials have again reviewed bus lists with the bus company and updated their lists with the teachers. They have also scheduled a meeting with the bus company to review their communication protocol, with an focus on student safety.
It’s a scary incident, especially for parents, but also for the teachers and other educators who feel great responsibility for their charges. You can see the degree of care taken, with teachers escorting students from classroom to bus, and by the measures taken as soon as the student’s parents reported he was late getting home.
We are happy to see that school officials were upfront about what happened and plan a follow-up to tighten their procedures for tracking their charges. Clearly something went amiss if the student wound up on the wrong bus or missed his stop. Lessons need to be learned from the episode.
We are also happy this incident was quickly resolved and that the second grader was none the worse for his experience, although any parent can imagine the fright the second-grader’s parents experienced – even for a short while. We just hope it was somewhat balanced by the joy of hearing the good news at the end of the day.