CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Clarksville mother is raising concerns after her 6-year-old son was left unattended on a school bus for about an hour during the first full week of school for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System.
Crystal Piti said the incident has left her shaken and sleepless.
“My heart was in my throat,” said Piti, recalling her initial reaction upon hearing what happened to her son, Conner.
The morning started rough for Conner, who fell while walking to his bus stop. Piti reassured him that everything would be fine.
“I told him, ‘You’re OK, buddy. No blood, and you’re going to have a good day,’” Piti said. “I walked him to the bus.”
Piti later called Liberty Elementary School, where Conner is a first grader, and asked if a teacher could check on her son's knee. When she didn’t receive a call, she assumed all was well. However, around 10 a.m. she received a call from Conner’s principal, informing her that her son had fallen asleep on the bus and had been left there unattended for about an hour.
A maintenance employee eventually found him and walked him across the street to the school.
“They said he was distraught when they found him and was brought back to the school,” Piti said. “They took him to the nurse, gave him fluids, and some crackers to calm him down.”
For Piti, the incident was especially alarming as she is still grieving the recent death of her oldest daughter, Jade.
“I’m trying to mentally rationalize that he’s OK. The worst didn’t happen, but coming from a mom who has lost a child recently, it’s hard to pull myself out of that mindset,” Piti said.
The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System acknowledged that Conner’s bus driver did not follow protocol. The district’s transportation department will retrain bus drivers to ensure that no child is left unattended on a school bus in the future.
“He could’ve died of heat stroke,” Piti said. “The door could’ve been closed. He could’ve been trapped in there.”
Piti — while understanding that mistakes can happen and recognizing the district’s struggle to find qualified bus drivers — considers this incident a major failure.
“I’m trying my hardest not to have anger towards anyone,” Piti said. “I hope we take this as a learning lesson because this could’ve been a tragedy.”
Every bus in the district is supposed to have a child checker alarm system, which is designed to activate at the end of each run and must be deactivated by the driver at the back of the bus as they check the seats.
The bus driver involved in the incident has been placed on alternative work duty until the investigation is complete.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at aaron.cantrell@newschannel5.com
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