OMEN
09-08-2007, 09:44 AM
ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) - A kindergartner has been suspended from school transportation for two weeks because he hid from a bus driver, the 5-year-old boy's mother said.
The bus driver dropped off Erskine Elementary students on Aug. 29, then left to pick up children at another school - with the boy still on the bus. The driver discovered him after hearing him giggle, and school officials said the driver was not at fault.
The child's mother says the punishment was too severe.
"He's 5 years old, he just started riding the bus," said Natasha Pulley. "I find the whole situation kind of messed up."
School officials re-enacted the incident with the 5-year-old to determine what happened, said Anderson Community Schools Superintendent Mikella Lowe.
"Any time a child is left on a school bus we want to find out what happened," Lowe said. "When the bus driver heard (the student), he took the appropriate steps. It was just a prank the little guy was playing."
Lowe would not discuss the terms of the student's punishment, citing confidentiality rules.
Pulley said she and her husband both work in Marion County, making it difficult to drive her to school in the county about 20 to 30 miles away.
"I understand him acting out. I understand he was in and out of the seats," said Pulley. "He's just a typical 5-year-old boy that just started school."
MyWay
The bus driver dropped off Erskine Elementary students on Aug. 29, then left to pick up children at another school - with the boy still on the bus. The driver discovered him after hearing him giggle, and school officials said the driver was not at fault.
The child's mother says the punishment was too severe.
"He's 5 years old, he just started riding the bus," said Natasha Pulley. "I find the whole situation kind of messed up."
School officials re-enacted the incident with the 5-year-old to determine what happened, said Anderson Community Schools Superintendent Mikella Lowe.
"Any time a child is left on a school bus we want to find out what happened," Lowe said. "When the bus driver heard (the student), he took the appropriate steps. It was just a prank the little guy was playing."
Lowe would not discuss the terms of the student's punishment, citing confidentiality rules.
Pulley said she and her husband both work in Marion County, making it difficult to drive her to school in the county about 20 to 30 miles away.
"I understand him acting out. I understand he was in and out of the seats," said Pulley. "He's just a typical 5-year-old boy that just started school."
MyWay