A Needham Elementary School parent says her 7-year-old son was dropped off at the wrong bus stop last week in Durango, setting off an hour-plus search for the child.
Steph Tanner notified the Durango Police Department about 5:30 p.m. March 2 that her son was not at the Durango Community Recreation Center where he is dropped off every day for the Gametime child care program.
She said the bus driver normally drops him off at the rec center every day at 3:15 p.m. She became fearful after learning he had not made it to Gametime.
Tanner attempted to call her daughter who was at home asleep with a newborn child and did not receive a response. After an hour and a half of searching, Tanner received a call from her daughter alerting her that her son had arrived home.
“I had not been notified by the school, the bus barn or anybody anywhere that he didn't make it to the rec center,” Tanner said.
She said her son was dropped off near the south end of the Merced de las Animas townhome complex at 3701 West Second Ave., about a mile north of the rec center. The boy lives at Merced de las Animas townhomes, but he apparently didn’t know exactly where he was or how to get home. Instead of walking north toward his home, he walked south.
She said he likely realized he was going in the wrong direction after seeing the Durango Joe’s kiosk at 3455 Main Ave., because she often buys coffee at that location. He then likely turned around and started walking north toward the Merced de las Animas complex. She guesses it took him about 40 minutes to find his way home.
Gametime supervisor Guthrie Hardesty said the Durango rec center has a roster of students for the after-school program. If a student does not show up to Gametime, staff members will alert the parents.
He said Tanner had called the day before to say her son would not be in attendance on March 2 because he was sick, so staff members did not notify a parent of his absence.
Hardesty said it is not unusual for parents to notify Gametime that a child is out sick and then send that child to school when they are feeling better, which is likely what happened in this instance.
Tanner agreed that she notified Gametime on March 1 that her son would not be attending that day, but she says she did not say anything about March 2.
The school district said the student did not exit at his correct bus stop at the rec center.
“He told the bus driver he had moved and said the driver should drop him off at his new home – which is in the condos near 36th and Main,” said 9-R spokeswoman Karla Sluis. “The driver should have followed our procedure, which is to call the Transportation Department and verify that this was a new drop-off location. Instead, the driver dropped the student off in front of his home.”
Sluis said when parents register their children to ride district buses, they indicate authorized pickup and drop-off locations on a form.
Tanner said she is underwhelmed by the school district’s response. Had something terrible happened to her son, the school district would be taking the situation more seriously, including disciplinary action against the bus driver, she said.
“This would be a different story right now if my son was stolen, killed by a car, eaten by a bear, taken by a sex trafficker or a pedophile,” she said.
The bus driver has been with the district for more than eight years and has an excellent reputation and record, Sluis said.
She said there was an internal investigation conducted by the district and corrective actions were taken by the transportation director that included reviewing video footage from the incident, reviewing correct procedures with the driver and assigning a monitor to ride with the bus driver.
The district transportation department also held a meeting Tuesday with drivers to clarify and enforce the correct procedure around authorized drop-off locations.
Sluis said the district is doing its due diligence to work with Tanner; the two parties met Tuesday to discuss the situation.
In the meeting, the district spoke at length with Tanner about her concerns and resolved to provide more bus supervision, better communication and more training for transportation staff, Sluis said.
However, Tanner did not leave the meeting feeling the issue was resolved. She wanted the bus driver to at least be suspended and given a mental health evaluation.
Tanner doesn’t believe her son would tell the bus driver to drop him off at the wrong stop, and if he did, the driver should have known better than to listen to a child rather than follow policy.
Furthermore, she wants better communication with the district’s transportation department. During the incident, she said she could not get in contact with the transportation department to figure out where her son had been dropped off.
Tanner suggested that the transportation department have a hotline that goes directly to the superintendent so parents can communicate grievances with district transportation.
“I never in a million years thought I would have this issue,” she said. “Like who would think that a bus driver would just do whatever he wants with your child?”
The district says parents should reach out to the bus barn, transportation director or a principal about transportation issues and if the problem is not resolved, then parents should contact the superintendent.
“There is a manager of transportation that they may talk to first and then it can be elevated to the director,” Cheser said.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
