September 24, 2008
Accused of Stranding First Grader, Bus Driver Suspended
The school bus driver who apparently dropped off a 5-year-old child at the end of her route--even though he was on the bus by accident and actually lives across from the school--has been suspended without pay as the incident is investigated. The Daily News reports that driver Kimba Ewers claims little Jaeden Vasquez was dropped off with other children and that adults were waiting for them (adults must be present to pick them up at the stop). Ewers's bus company also says the school is at fault, since the child says a school aide told him to get on the bus. The DOE went to supervise dismissal and school bus boarding yesterday--"The kids who belong on the buses are supposed to be checked off as they board."
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No wall-street treatment for the driver!
Accountability was consequence here.
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"Ewers's bus company also says the school is at fault, since the child says a school aide told him to get on the bus. The DOE went to supervise dismissal and school bus boarding yesterday--"The kids who belong on the buses are supposed to be checked off as they board.""
this bus driver is not at fault. someone else needs to be suspended.
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The child never questioned why he was getting on the bus probably because he is only five years old.
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I remember when I was that age one time I fell asleep, missed my stop, and woke up after the elementary school route was done, and the bus was filled with very scary and large high school kids. They were all talking to me at once... I guess somehow they figured out where I lived and I got home eventually...
Another time I missed my stop and got off at the next stop, which was like a block away from my house but I didn't know how to get home, so I went to my friend's house with the intent of calling home but instead I played Nintendo over there for like five hours
Good times...
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#2 zodak you're missing the point. The driver isn't being disciplined for letting him on the bus, but for reportedly telling him at the end of her route "this is the last stop, you have to get off."
They don't know who it was who allegedly told him to get on the bus in the first place. If they did, that person would probably also be disciplined.
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jaycjay, the driver is being scapegoated. somehow this kid doesn't remember who told him to get on the bus he NEVER gets on but he remembers being told "this is the last stop, you have to get off"? BS.
"driver Kimba Ewers claims little Jaeden Vasquez was dropped off with other children and that adults were waiting for them (adults must be present to pick them up at the stop)."
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And you believe her? Where are all these adults? If they exist, why can't she get any of them to come forward as witnesses?
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#7- If there WERE other parents there, they probably don't want to get involved -- for various reasons.
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And you believe her?
Exactly. It's possible that the five-year old may be inaccurately remembering what happened. It's also possible the bus driver just wanted to finish her day and go home and not deal with a lost kid, and lied about what happened when caught.
That's why she's "suspended while the incident is investigated." Not scapegoated, not fired, but being investigated because the stories conflict but there's no question that the kid was left where he shouldn't have been.