Mom angry her autistic son was left on bus; he later was discovered at bus lot

What began as an ordinary Monday morning soon devolved into a harrowing experience for a Cape Girardeau mother when her 5-year-old, autistic child didn’t show up at Blanchard Elementary School.

Bridgett Vaughn said she put her son on the special-needs bus that pulls up in front of her house, as she usually does.

“About 20 minutes later, the school called me and said Adam didn’t get off the bus,” she said.

Trying not to panic, Vaughn drove to the school, which she said is about three minutes from her home.

Someone from Blanchard called her back and said the child might have been dropped at another school by mistake. She got another call saying he might have ended up at the bus lot, near the Wal-Mart Supercenter off Route K.

Meanwhile, no one was answering the phone at Robinson Transport, the contractor whose buses serve the school system.

“I’m getting more upset and more upset because, basically, you don’t know where my child is,” Vaughn said.

Between 30 and 45 minutes from the time Vaughn was notified of Adam’s absence, the bus returned to Blanchard.

By this time, the school resource officer was on the scene along with Cape Girardeau police.

Vaughn said Adam’s teacher was in tears, and Vaughn was trying to give police a description of what her son had been wearing that morning.

“Everyone was like, ‘What in the world is going on?’” Vaughn said.

When the bus pulled up in front of the school, Vaughn said she boarded it immediately to look for Adam, whose condition makes it difficult for him to communicate.

She began asking the driver what happened, and she said he responded in what she called a strange, defensive manner, saying, “‘I don’t know. You’re not supposed to be on the bus.’”

Neil Glass, the school district’s assistant superintendent for administrative services, said Adam was on the bus the entire time he was missing.

“A procedure wasn’t followed. The student was taken to the bus lot and then back to school,” he said.

Glass said the bus monitor didn’t check to ensure Adam got off at Blanchard, and the driver didn’t realize the child still was on board the bus until he returned the bus to the lot.

The bus monitor is a school district employee; the driver is an employee of Robinson Transport.

Glass could not say whether disciplinary action will be taken against the monitor, because that is a personnel issue.

“We’re not pointing fingers here,” he said.

Cherie Wren, an assistant manager at the bus lot, said she did not feel comfortable commenting on the situation because the lot’s manager, Cara Bowers, was out of town Monday and not expected back in the office until Wednesday.

“But I will say the young student was never left alone on the bus at any time,” Wren said. “The driver did find him when he did his child check.”

Vaughn said she is upset, however, not only because her son was missing, but because the special-needs bus is small, and it should have been easy to spot a child who hadn’t been dropped off.

“I think that’s ridiculous and unacceptable,” she said, adding she has contacted a lawyer.

She also was trying to get Adam evaluated Monday to see whether he had been abused in any way.

“I don’t know what happened to my son, and he can’t verbalize what happened,” she said.

Deena Ring, director of special services for the school district, spoke with Vaughn during the ordeal.

Since Vaughn no longer wants Adam to ride any bus after Monday’s events, Ring confirmed she offered Vaughn the option of collecting mileage from the district to take her son to and from school each day, although that is something that would have to be approved by the school board.

“It’s unfortunate that (this) happened, but it did happen, and we don’t ever want this to happen (again),” Ring said.

Glass said the district’s priority is to make sure students are safe and accounted for at all times.

“Our job is to make sure this doesn’t happen again, and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.

ljones@semissourian.com

(573) 225-2979

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1829 N. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.