Kindergartener, Dropped Off At Wrong Bus Stop, Has Traumatic First Day

Kindergartener Delivered To Wrong Bus Stop Found 'Crying And Wandering'

Flaws in the oversight of a south suburban school district's bus route caused a Richton Park 5-year-old to have a traumatic first day of kindergarten.

Kadir Randle was delivered to the wrong stop on his ride home from Illinois School in Park Forest Tuesday afternoon, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. His mother, Chiqueta Harris, was waiting at the correct stop between Euclid and Brighton Lanes and began to panic after a half hour of waiting with no sign of her son.

When she called the school to see if the bus had been delayed, she was told not to worry, that the bus would be there shortly, CBS Chicago reports. A few minutes later, the school called he back, to tell her that Kadir had been found by another parent wandering a Lioncrest subdivision in tears.

A few minutes later, the school later called her back to say Kadir had been found when another mom found him crying and wandering around the subdivision and she brought him to safety.

“His whole face was like he had seen a ghost," Harris said, according to the Sun-Times. "He just cried. He doesn’t want to go to school anymore.”

District 162 associate superintendent Brian Ali said that schools take precautions to ensure that mistakes like this aren't made, according to the Sun-Times. Students have cards on their backpacks indicating the names and locations of their stops, and teachers are onboard buses for the first week to oversee drop offs. Kadir got off one stop early, about a block away from where his mother was waiting, Ali said.

Harris expressed both concern for her son's safety and the effectiveness of the school's oversight of school bus pickup and delivery.

My child’s safety was at risk,” Harris said, CBS reports. “The school dropped the child off at the wrong location, with no adult supervision, and just walked away.”'

Correction: This story previously indicated that a Chicago bus was involved in the incident, but has been updated to make clear that the bus belonged to the Matteson School District 162.

Flickr photo by stevendeplo.

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