A young child who got on the bus Thursday morning but didn’t get off at his stop was found walking toward his school a little more than a half mile away.
This happened in Dover near south elementary school.
According to a Dover police report, officers got a call just after 10 a.m. about a 4 to 5-year-old boy walking by himself on the Tuscarawas Avenue Bridge. A passerby picked him up near the shelly concrete company and took him to the police station where they determined he was attempting to walk to school.
His guardians said they watched him get on the bus. But police say he did not get off at the school.
Dover Superintendent Karie McCrate says the child instead remained on the bus after it was taken back to the garage.
“A kindergartener was left on a school bus after the substitute bus driver failed to follow the district’s established and practiced safety procedures.”
Mccrate says one of those safety measures requires the driver to walk to the back of the bus to check for students, something this sub driver did not do.
“This situation was a clear violation of the procedures that we have in place and those actions are completely unacceptable.”
The district conducted an immediate investigation and dismissed the substitute bus driver. The rest of the transportation staff will be retrained on proper procedures.
Police said the child was dressed appropriately for the cold weather and wasn’t hurt by the temperatures in the teens.
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