Casselberry, Fla. — Each day around 3:30 in the afternoon, bus 127 drops off Sterling Park Elementary students at this stop on 436 in Casselberry.
But last Tuesday, that same bus was nowhere to be found for over an hour.
"We were all quite concerned, couldn't get through to transportation," said grandmother Denise Randolph. "The kids were scared. He was a good boy trying to comfort some of the other kids that were crying and everything."
Bus 127 had a substitute driver who was not familiar with the route, and after making only one stop drove back to Sterling Park Elementary School.
Stan McKinzie, assistant director for Seminole County Transportation Services, said several procedures were not followed in this case.
"We have GPS on all of our buses. Unfortunately, when one of the parents called in, instead of giving them the location of the bus, they just transferred them to a manager," McKinzie said. "We use it as a teaching moment, if we make a mistake we will own up to our mistake and we will learn from that mistake."
According to McKinzie, after the first stop the driver held the bus up to address a student who became defiant. She called the dispatch office, but the phone disconnected. Instead of calling back or using her radio, she drove the bus full of students back to the school.
"If she is having issues and it is unsafe to move that bus she should have stayed at that location where she was until a transportation administrator came to help them out," McKinzie said.
The incident is being reviewed and all drivers and dispatchers will be made aware and trained about the procedures to make sure this will not happen again.