Toddler Forgotten For Hours Inside Head Start Bus
A Northeast El Paso family is outraged after they say their 2-year-old was abandoned on a school bus for hours Wednesday morning.
The school bus was operated by head start staff for the Education Service Center-Region 19. Jayden Rodriguez is the boy who was left behind on the bus. He was not hurt and is safe with his family.
“He could have had a heat stroke, he could have gotten off, played with the buttons, opened the door,” said the toddler’s mother, Brittany Allen. “He could have gotten hit by a car because Jayden wanders.”
Allen said Jayden was discovered only after staff went back on the bus because they needed it to pick up kids participating in the afternoon program.
“I don’t really know what happened on that bus,” said Allen.
Allen said she thinks her son was left on the bus for more than three hours based on the time he was picked up from home and the time staff told her they signed in her son at Head Start.
However Jimmy Vasquez, the executive director of the Education Service Center-Region 19, said the boy was alone on the bus for about 2 and a half hours.
“We’re distressed, we’re apologetic, we feel terrible,” said Vasquez. “We expect (staff) to follow the rules. They slipped up, we goofed. You never leave children unaccompanied, especially on a bus and when you get off the bus, you count everybody and you make sure all the kids get off.”
Vasquez said every bus has a driver and monitor to avoid situations like Jayden’s. He said the two people involved in this case resigned after being told they would be suspended pending the outcome of an investigation.
Allen said she wants still wants more accountability. “You can fire anybody you want, but that’s not going to replace my son’s life. What if he died? What are you going to do, tell me you’re sorry?”
Vasquez said the center self-reported the incident to Child Protective Services so it could choose whether to conduct its own investigation. He added safety remains a top priority and that all staff will undergo a policy review.
