I was not at the school bus stop

[Anonymous]

What about walkers? Does the teacher make sure every walker gets met by a parent?

[Anonymous]

If this is a public school, you are dealing with a government-run service. It is often hard to hold these types of employees accountable, especially if they are hard to find (which is often the case with bus drivers who require a clean driving record and who must be available to drive children at an ungodly hour). Understand that you can't count on them even if they feed you a line that they will simply take your daughter back to the school. You should meet with the supervisor and even the principal and schools' superintendent to come up with a contingency plan for situations such as this, such as the bright yellow tape on the back of all kindergarteners' back packs in FCPS.

Meanwhile, like other posters have stated, there's a lot more you should do on your part to prevent your child from coming home alone, such as keeping a phone with you and calling the school (they could've radioed the bus driver), teaching your child to be a lot more assertive and telling the bus driver when she doesn't see you at the bus stop, or teaching your child how to get in the house. Most of all, get your priorities straight and make sure that you will be there for your child. This is only a year of her life and it goes by quickly. You can do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But the the school bus dropped off my 5 year old anyway. Wtf? She walked alone, by herself, for one block and came to the locked house. No one was at home. She just stood there, on the street, and sobbed. Lucky I was running just a few minutes later.

OP, don't blame the bus driver. Instead, make a contingency plan. "If I'm not at the bus stop, then you should... If that doesn't work, you should..." And check frequently to make sure that she knows the contingency plan.

I am really not worried about a five-year-old walking for one block by herself in her own neighborhood. The worrisome part is that she was standing in the street sobbing. That is because she didn't know what to do. With a contingency plan, she will know what to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But the the school bus dropped off my 5 year old anyway. Wtf? She walked alone, by herself, for one block and came to the locked house. No one was at home. She just stood there, on the street, and sobbed. Lucky I was running just a few minutes later.

OP, don't blame the bus driver. Instead, make a contingency plan. "If I'm not at the bus stop, then you should... If that doesn't work, you should..." And check frequently to make sure that she knows the contingency plan.

I am really not worried about a five-year-old walking for one block by herself in her own neighborhood. The worrisome part is that she was standing in the street sobbing. That is because she didn't know what to do. With a contingency plan, she will know what to do.

She was sobbing because she knows her mom doesn't care enough to plan for her.

[Anonymous]

My kids are teens now, I have never once been late in getting them. Plan better OP. I make doctors appts only if I have plenty of time. Also, when appts run late, I LEAVE the appt and reschedule. I don't just leave my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Oh my gosh you are clueless. The bus driver is not your after school daycare provider. Really, this is why some people should not have children.

The school IS my childcare provider, and the bus driver is a part of the school.

In another situation, what happens if you're late to come home, does the babysitter just abandons your child? No. If you're late to pick up the child from daycare, do they just release it into the street? No. Does the school do it? No. So why is it OK for the bus driver to do that?

If I thought I failed as a parent because I was late to pick up my DC from school once, I'd be in psychotherapy. Just saying...

[Anonymous]

If it's the district policy to return a child if a parent is not there, then they should have done that.

That being said, I never made doctor's appointments past 11 a.m. so I would have at least 4 hours in case they ran late. Typically I made sure all my appointments were at 9 a.m. for the buffer. I also had phone numbers of neighbor moms I could call if I thought I would run late -- and they had my number, too.

[Anonymous]

OP here again.

I talked to DD and we made a plan.

a) If I'm not at the stop, she does not get off the bus.

b) If she's off the bus and no one is at home she goes to one of our 4 neighbor's houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That being said, I never made doctor's appointments past 11 a.m. so I would have at least 4 hours in case they ran late. Typically I made sure all my appointments were at 9 a.m. for the buffer. I also had phone numbers of neighbor moms I could call if I thought I would run late -- and they had my number, too.

Well, I just foolishly assumed that if the school said the kids without parents will be returned to school that I'd just pick DD up from school.

How negligent of me to think that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That being said, I never made doctor's appointments past 11 a.m. so I would have at least 4 hours in case they ran late. Typically I made sure all my appointments were at 9 a.m. for the buffer. I also had phone numbers of neighbor moms I could call if I thought I would run late -- and they had my number, too.

Well, I just foolishly assumed that if the school said the kids without parents will be returned to school that I'd just pick DD up from school.

How negligent of me to think that.

Yes, it was negligent. You need to make your own back-up plans with your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again.

I talked to DD and we made a plan.

a) If I'm not at the stop, she does not get off the bus.

b) If she's off the bus and no one is at home she goes to one of our 4 neighbor's houses.

Good for you for making a plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again.

I talked to DD and we made a plan.

a) If I'm not at the stop, she does not get off the bus.

b) If she's off the bus and no one is at home she goes to one of our 4 neighbor's houses.

OP- this is good. You've made a plan. Sorry this happened to your DD- now you're making sure it doesn't happen again.

There is a ridiculous amount of parent shaming going on here. I've seen a child wander away from a harried mother at a play gym- all of the other parents immediately pitched in and located the child's mom (not negligent, just supervising several kids at once, one of them a "runner"). Parents help each other out, communities help each other out. We're not here to make each other feel inadequate or like failures for a glitch.

It's a major red flag that the bus driver let the child off without an adult. That is the last action in a chain of events that could have put the child in danger. Yes, the ultimate responsibility rests with the parent, but when the safety of a child is concerned, we all have some responsibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, it was negligent. You need to make your own back-up plans with your child.

Right, because never trust anyone. Insert yourself everywhere. Helicopter.

Geez, that's the parent I've been trying NOT to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again.

I talked to DD and we made a plan.

a) If I'm not at the stop, she does not get off the bus.

b) If she's off the bus and no one is at home she goes to one of our 4 neighbor's houses.

Good plan. You just should have implemented it in August.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, it was negligent. You need to make your own back-up plans with your child.

Right, because never trust anyone. Insert yourself everywhere. Helicopter.

Geez, that's the parent I've been trying NOT to be.

OK, but it didn't work. You discovered that you did need a back-up plan. And now you have one. That's good!