Posted on 01/25/2011 11:56:38 AM PST by nickcarraway
The wheels on the school bus go 'round and 'round, but eventually students are supposed to get off.
Not so for one South Florida boy, who was trapped on his school bus the entire day after the bus driver forgot to check and see if all of the students got off for school. Dylan Gottshall was found Monday on his school bus around 1 p.m., hours after he was supposed to get off and go to class at Parkway Elementary School in Port St. Lucie, TCPalm.com reports. The 7-year-old first grader was picked up at his bus stop around 7:30 a.m., but fell asleep on the bus by the time it arrived at school. He didn't wake up as all the other kids got off the bus and so the bus driver drove the bus back to the bus depot.
And so Dylan was trapped on the bus for hours with no way to get off, his father said.
"I was in shock and I was very angry that my child was left on a bus," Sam Gottshall said. "We all know what happens to kids who get locked in vehicles on hot days and everything and I was thankful it wasn't a hot day." School district officials said they were checking into the incident to see how a student could be stuck on a bus the entire day without anyone noticing.
So what do you do on a school bus all day? Dylan decided he'd get a math lesson in.
He counted all the open windows and all the closed windows. And then he counted them again, his father said. "He was very scared an
Good grief. I was 16 when I went to college. I think I was always the youngest one in my class but I never talked about it to anyone. Didn’t want anyone to know.
Yes.
Where I live you have to be 5 to start Kindergarten.
So in K you are 5 and then you turn 6.
In first grade you are 6 and turn 7.
Second grade 7 and turn 8, etc...
What happened to people keeping up with how many kids they have under their control?! Geez...
Why did he not exit with the rest of the kids? While the driver definitely has some explaining to do - like why he didn’t do a “walk-through”... still... a 7-year old knows to get off the bus (unless it was his first day), and even then... hello... Was he asleep under a seat and then just suddenly wake up and go “hey! where is everybody”?
This particular accident would have been prevented with having another adult on the bus to go through a safety check off list with the driver at the completion of the trip. ( Like they should do on scuba diving expeditions.)
While private companies must recall a toy that has 1 in a trillion parts of a **POSSIBLY** dangerous substance, government schools get away with 17,000 emergency room visits for school bus injuries and several deaths from dragging and crushing EVERY YEAR!!
Most of these emergency room admission and deaths could be prevented with adult supervision on the back of the bus and when exiting, entering, and crossing the road.
Too many school bus accidents involve a roll over ( a design problem). The serious injuries and deaths that occur due to children falling out of their seats, slamming into other children, or the sides of the bus. This roll over injuries would be reduced with with seat belts. Exit hatches on the roofs would facilitate quick evacuation from the bus.
Someone is sure to post that a child is safer on a bus. HOG SLOP! There are NO NO NO studies that compare school bus safety with that of a **parent** driving a child directly to and from school with the child securely fastened in his seat belt.
True.
I don’t think the driver could necessarily keep track of all the people on the bus at any given time.
Our bus picks up country kids, then picks up a morning shuttle bus stop or two, heads out to the high school and drops off all the high school aged country and shuttle kids, then goes by the Elementary and drops off the the Elementary kids - also picking up middle school students who join the remaining crowd on the bus and then they head over to the middle school, drop off all those kids, pick up a few more Elementary kids who gather there, then it heads back to the Elementary for it’s final stop. (I think :)
Easier just to double check the bus at the end of the route.
Where do these so called “professionals” live? In a cave?
This is NOT NOT NOT the first time a child has been left on a school bus.
So...In other professions, when there has been an accident, other REAL professionals take note of the incident, make corrections in their own practices, and strive not to have the same accident happen in their business.
Gee! I have an idea.
These so called **professional** “educators” should ask for help from that EEEEEEVIL capitalistic multinational company DUPONT, and ask them to do a safety review of their entire school system, including bus safety.
You are correct if it picks up that many kids. I guess I didn’t realize how many stops it made during the day. Our buses are morning pick up and afternoon drop offs only.
He probably thought he would be in trouble for falling asleep on the bus and missing school. Also, he would not know the people who worked in the private businesses - could have been afraid of Stranger Danger...
Was the exit door functioning and not broken? Was it designed so that a 7 year old had the strength to use it, or is tall enough to reach it?
Are the emergency exits actually properly designed. Has any “professional” ( cough!) “educator” ever checked them?
A “professional” ( cough) educator should be able to give and IMMEDIATE answer to the question. ( That is if they really are professional and care more about the safety of the kids than their own paychecks, pensions, and benefits.)
Maybe then these “professional” “educators” would take their “professional” responsibilities seriously.
I was a seven year old first grader after my Jan. birthday. The Florida cut-off was you must be six years old by Dec 31 of that school year. If his birthday was from Jan 1 to Jan 24 he would be seven.
Thinking about it, I’d be surprised if most adults these days would be able to figure out how to get out of a bus in an emergency. Look how most of them voted for President.
"He counted all the open windows and all the closed windows."
If DUPONT ( evil capitalists that they are) WERE RUNNING THIS SCHOOL SYSTEM THIS ACCIDENT WOULD NOT NOT NOT HAVE HAPPENED!!!
( Yeah! I am shouting jumping up and down and having a fit. This kid could have died. Thank goodness the weather wasn't too hot or cold. )
This happened a couple of times while I was in the Middle East. The difference is it can get over 120oF there - the children all died.
This. The kid did the right thing, they eventually found him, and got home safe.
Opening the emergency door, as said is quite a drop. And you can get very badly hurt.
I’m surprised that FReepers are attacking the kid, and not the driver. The obligation of the driver is to make sure that the kids get home safely and get to school safely. He did not check, and if he had checked, would have found the kid instantly.
We used to climb out the windows all the time at that age. Teachers would punish those who got caught.
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