Accidentally boarding the wrong bus happens to many people over their lifetimes, though most are a bit older than this girl before that happens and generally aren’t treated as poorly because of it.
6abc reports on the distressing tale of 6-year-old student Laianna Correa, a student of West Oak Lane Charter School. Coming home from school on Tuesday as normal, Laianna was accidentally placed on the wrong bus.
After reaching the end of the line, Laianna told the bus driver that she was not at the right stop. Reportedly, the driver said that she simply didn’t care and forced the child off the bus over two miles from her home in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Driving off, Laianna was left alone.
Fortunately for her, she happened to find a classmate who lived in that neighborhood who let her come over, eventually getting her in contact with her mother, Danielle Correa, who got her home safely.
This is far from the end of the story, though, as Laianna and her mother are understandably upset by what happened. “I’m outraged,” Danielle said, “because you pick a school thinking that your child is going to be taken care of during the day.”
A Durham School Services (the company who owns the bus Laianna rode on) spokesperson has apologized for the gross misconduct by their driver, saying they are investigating the matter internally. Per school policy, a bus driver is meant to radio the school and the bus dispatch if they find that a student has gotten on the wrong line, then find a safe spot to drop the child off after consulting with a parent or guardian. Obviously, none of this happened during the Tuesday ride.
Additionally, the West Oak Lane Charter School principal has also said that the school will be looking into the matter, promising changes “as soon as tomorrow”. This is seemingly not a unique incident, as the school district has reportedly has had a multitude of problems with the bus company since they were first contracted, extremely long ride length home from school being a major one.
Not only that, Durham reports that it is currently experiencing a driver shortage. As a result, the school has had to cut more than 60 routes from the bus schedule. In the end, this makes for a small group of overworked and under-trained individuals being put in charge of driving home dozens of children every day, far from an ideal situation.
There is currently no news on what has happened as a result of this incident.
