Parents frantic, confused after child left on school bus
By Darren Cunningham
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PONTIAC, Michigan (WXYZ) — What should have been an exciting first day of school turned into a frantic afternoon for two parents in Pontiac.
Their child, who takes the school bus home, didn’t get off at his stop.
Alizabeth Fitch and Delshawn Cooper said their son’s school bus is supposed to drop him off at his stop at 3:25 p.m.
When the bus got to the stop, Fitch said four other children exited the bus but not their son Ka’dynce. The driver pulled off.
So, she said she went to his school, International Technology Academy, and asked staff where her 8-year-old was.
“(My husband) pulls up, and they come out and tell me, ‘No, no, no, no. He’s with his dad.’ What do you mean he’s with his dad? His dad’s right here. That’s when I lost it. I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn’t breathe. You gave my child to somebody?” Fitch recalled.
The frantic mother is seen pacing on the phone in a Facebook Live video recorded by her husband.
In the video, she said, “I need to know where transportation is located. Nobody knows where it’s located at. Can you find that out for me?”
The parents say an administrator tried to help, but they’re upset with how other staff treated them during the confusion.
Cooper said another administrator “called the police on me” when Cooper started recording to Facebook Live.
The administrator can be heard saying, “Yeah, it’s a male. He won’t leave the building. We asked him to step outside. He’s swearing and being irate so. Just asked him to leave.”
Cooper replied, “Yes, because you lost my son!”
Deputies arrived. The district said that’s standard in this type of situation. However, someone did make a second call to the sheriff’s office.
At one point, Cooper is filming the administrator and a bus. The administrator approaches Cooper.
Cooper told the man, “Don’t touch my phone!”
The administrator replied, “Get that camera out of my face!’
Cooper said, “What the (expletive) are you gonna do? Do something! What are you gonna do?”
The administrator said, “Get it out of my face.”
Cooper said, “What are you gonna do?”
By 4:40 p.m., Fitch learned her son was safe.
“I called the bus garage and stayed on hold and waited for somebody. Some dude picked up and told me, ‘We found him. He was asleep on the bus. Go to his bus stop,'” Fitch said.
Cooper added, “This was over an hour later.”
Fitch said, “4:40 p.m.”
7 News Detroit spoke with district communications and learned Ka’dynce was found on the bus by the driver after the last stop had been made.
The district said the boy had been awake and alert. Prior to that, the district said there was confusion when a man picked up another kid and that caused other kids on the bus to tell the driver Ka’dynce had already gotten off.
Ka’dynce’s parents are calling for the district to tighten up their procedures.
“When they enter that school and even when they leave the school until they get home, that is your job to make sure you know where the kids are at all times. Why didn’t you not know where my child was? And if he was so-called ‘awake,’ why didn’t he get off the stop?” Fitch said.
The district declined an on-camera interview. However, 7 News Detroit was sent the following statement from interim Superintendent Kimberly Leverette:
“We take any possibility of a missing child very seriously and were incredibly relieved to learn that our student was safe the entire time on the bus, and simply hadn’t spoken up when his name was called. We are grateful to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department, our transportation team, and district staff who sprung into action immediately when they received the call to look for the student. Our drivers get to know their students like their own children as the school year unfolds, making this incident, though very scary, fortunately unlikely to happen again in the future.”
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