A South Jersey school district fired a bus driver and bus aide after a 4-year-old boy was left on a school bus.
The Stokes School student never made it to his Trenton, New Jersey school Tuesday morning, said Trenton Police Lt. Stephen Varn.
After a period of time, a school district employee spotted the boy on the Delaware Valley Bus Line vehicle when it returned to the Parkside Avenue school midday to pick up students, said Trenton School Board spokeswoman Kathy Smallwood-Johnson.
The school employee then contacted the school principal, the school nurse, Trenton Police and the boy’s mother, Melissa Holley.
The school nurse checked out the boy, who was unharmed despite being left alone for numerous hours, said police.
The principal and nurse also went to the boy’s home to meet with Holley who demanded the bus driver and aide be let go. On Wednesday, the school district announced that both employees had been fired and the school district would no longer be using the bus company.
Holley told NBC10 her son is developmentally delayed and may have fallen asleep. She said she's grateful the teacher jumped into action but angry the situation happened in the first place.
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"Our question is for the school bus company," Holley said. "Really, where's my son at for that time frame? He rides the small bus. So how did you not know that he was still on that bus, park the bus, pick the bus up again in the afternoon and then come back to the school and then try to act like the teacher is crazy, that he wasn't on the bus all day?"
No one from the bus company responded to NBC10's request for comment.
