NEW YORK (WABC) — A school bus carrying six nonverbal students went missing for four hours, authorities in New York City said.
Investigation details timeline
Anastasia Coleman is the head of the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District, an independent watchdog group. She said a former Consolidated Bus Transit driver and matron failed to drop off the 6- to 8-year-old students at P.S. 289 by 9 a.m. on Dec. 16 of last year.
According to Coleman, the driver was filling in that day and told investigators he drove to two incorrect Brooklyn-area schools before getting the correct address from dispatch around 10:40 that morning.
“They’re nonverbal, so they can’t tell you what happened,” Coleman said. “One of the children was lying down and had her diaper off and had urinated.”
Around 10 a.m., school staff tried calling Consolidated Bus Transit to locate the children and notified the Department of Education at 11:45 a.m. The school called Consolidated again and was told the bus would arrive by noon.
A parent tracking her children on the bus using AirTags called the school in a panic, and the New York City Police Department was alerted.
The bus arrived at PS 289 at 1:25 p.m.
“He said that he was near the school and he’d be there in 15 minutes, and it took hours after that,” one parent said.
Investigators said the bus matron, who was also on temporary assignment that day, did not alert anyone to the events that morning.
Company response
Consolidated Bus Transit released a statement saying both employees have been on administrative leave since the incident 10 months ago, pending investigation proceedings as required by the labor collective agreement. The company said the employees are not permitted on any of its buses and have no student interactions.
“Knowing all the buses, I’d definitely be in a panic,” one parent said.
Parents said they hope an incident like this does not happen again.
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