school bus incident

Boy left unnoticed for hours on Muskoday school bus

Feb 15, 2019 | 5:17 PM

A Muskoday First Nation mom is very upset after her five-year-old son fell asleep on the school bus and wasn’t noticed for over two hours. She fears had it not been for the boy’s presence of mind things may have ended on a far more serious note.

Natasha Crain told paNOW her son Kalen got on the afternoon bus after an early dismissal day Wednesday at the Muskoday School to take his regular route to day care just a few minutes away. She found out about the ordeal he went through later.

“He could have walked off to the middle of nowhere.” – Natasha Crain

“He fell asleep on the bus; the driver went home and parked her bus and went inside,” Crain claims. “My son woke up, he was sitting there for quite some time scared and crying and didn’t know what to do. He then got the idea to honk the horn and the bus driver realized someone was in there.”

Crain figures her son was on the bus for over two hours and is very concerned protocols were not followed.

“The driver is not checking the bus thoroughly when they’ve done each round,” she said.” Especially with the weather we’ve been having, it’s a good thing my son didn’t go outside and try and walk off somewhere. It’s rural, he could have walked off into the middle of nowhere.”

Crain said she would be asking the school and band office for answers. She claims there should have been education assistants on the bus to check on the kids but in this case there were none on the bus.

paNOW made several requests for comment from Muskoday school to establish what happened but did not receive a response by late Friday afternoon. It is understood that a meeting was scheduled Friday afternoon between Muskoday First Nation band and education officials regarding the incident.

(Photo: Kalen Crain’s mother claims her son was left unnoticed on the school bus for several hours Wednesday afternoon. submitted/Natasha Crain)

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow

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