From Staff Reports
TARBORO —
The fate of an Edgecombe County bus driver is unknown after a child was left on a school bus on the second day of school.
Community Relations Director Diane LeFiles said that the bus driver, who's name was not given, left a child sitting on a bus in the bus parking lot of Stocks Elementary School.
Per Edgecombe County Public Schools protocol, the bus driver may be suspended pending the outcome of the investigation into the situation.
LeFiles said that specific disciplinary actions for the driver cannot be disclosed.
LeFiles said that the child was discovered within eight minutes of being left on the bus by Stocks Assistant Principal Dr. Brenda Hargrove who took the child off of the bus and to a classroom.
The parents of the student were notified immediately and Stocks Principal Russell Johnson and Hargrove visited the home of the student to inform the parents of the incident and monitored the child throughout the day.
"Stocks Elementary staff are committed to safety for all of out students and we are always concerned when procedures are not followed," Johnson said. "However, I should say that during my 14 year tenure on this campus, this is the first time anything like this has happened on any of our busses. We are committed to ensuring that it never happens again."
ECPS protocol, LeFiles explained, is that bus drivers are to walk through their bus prior to leaving the vehicle to make sure that all passengers are off and schools are required to have staff members on duty in bus parking lots during the loading and unloading of students.
Anytime there is a breach in protocol there is an investigation.
Stocks Elementary School serves 725 children from pre-K through third grade.
ECPS has a 114 bus fleet that travels more than 6,800 miles each day transporting approximately 5,000 children to and from the 15 campuses across the county.
