VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – A Virginia Beach mother tells 8News sister station WAVY-TV 10 that her 4-year-old son was put on the wrong school bus and was left standing in the rain for hours.
Rynita Gerald of Virginia Beach says three different adults let her 4-year-old son down. It started when he was put on the wrong school bus Monday. Gerald said her son is supposed to leave College Park Elementary School and take a bus to the Virginia Beach Public School/YMCA program called Early Discoveries. But he was not put on the bus that goes to Early Discoveries, she says he was put on the bus that goes to his house.
“The teacher put him on the wrong bus. No one checked to see what bus he was supposed to be on. Even though, I gave them hand written permission on which bus to ride, they put him on the wrong bus,” she said.
Gerald says the bus driver also failed her son by letting him get off the bus even though neither his mother nor father were at the bus stop. They were both at work.
“Yes, he got off the bus, the bus driver let him get off the bus and let him come home,” she said. “He stood outside for an hour and 47 minutes until my neighbor saw him crying and shaking in the rain by himself and pulled him into her house,” Gerald explained.
The neighbor did not have Gerald’s contact information, so she had to drive to College Park Elementary School to get her phone number from school officials. When Gerald got the call, she was shocked.
“I just started crying and ran out of my job. I wasn’t thinking. I was just rushing out of my job to come home and get him. I didn’t know what was going on and it was dark outside when she called me. It was raining all day yesterday, and my 4-year-old son was standing outside in the driveway by himself all of this time,” she said.
Gerald says she’s also upset that no one from Early Discoveries called to report that her son was a no-show.
“Didn’t even pay attention that my son didn’t show up to the daycare. No one paid attention to that,” she explained.
Tuesday, Gerald spent the day calling the department of transportation, College Park Elementary, and Early Discoveries looking for answers. As of Tuesday afternoon, she had only received an apology from the staff at Early Discoveries.
Gerald says the situation could have been much worse.
“I don’t know what could have happened. I could have never seen my son again and that’s the scary part.”
WAVY called Virginia Beach City Public Schools. A spokesman said the division is aware of the incident and is looking into it. He said he hopes to have more information to release on Wednesday.
