By paNOW

Parents concerned after four-year-old left on bus

Dec 28, 2018 | 6:00 PM

A local couple is raising concerns after they say an incident at their son’s pre-school left their four-year-old son out in the cold last week.

Shane Halkett and Kaylene Parenteau say their son, Oaklen, was left alone on a school bus in downtown Prince Albert the morning of Dec. 18. The couple found out about the incident later that day when the school called Parenteau to notify her.

While the toddler is fine physically, Parenteau said he suffers from asthma and uses a puffer several times a day. She said he spent a week in hospital earlier this month with H1N1. The couple removed Oaklen from the Prince Albert Aboriginal Head Start pre-school program he was attending and say they’re unhappy with the response from the school over the incident.

Parenteau said Oaklen was also upset when she picked him up that day.

“Literally, the first thing he told me was, ‘Mom, I was trapped on the bus, I was crying for you and you were taking so long,’” Parenteau said.

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Parenteau said she was told the bus driver was given a one-week suspension and put back on probation following the incident. Parenteau said the school also told her to expect a letter of apology, although she has not received anything yet.

“I just did not agree with that. To me, that’s a slap on the wrist,” Parenteau told paNOW. “My son could have froze on that bus. We’re lucky it wasn’t minus 40 [Celsius] that day … he could have walked off that bus.”

Calls to the Aboriginal Head Start program were directed to the organization’s lawyer. In an email to paNOW, Anil Pandila declined to comment.

Parenteau and Halkett now plan to contact a lawyer over the incident. The family feels Oaklen’s life was put in danger.

“We’re just completely sick to our stomach,” Parenteau said. “I’m glad my son is home and safe, but we could have been planning a funeral, we could have been putting out a missing report for a missing person. We just don’t know what could have happened.”

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt