OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – The School District of Osceola County has opened an investigation after a 9-year-old boy with special needs stepped off a school bus at the wrong stop on his second day of classes.
It was a terrifying moment for Laquisha Johnson, who told News 6’s Mike Valente what happened on Tuesday after she realized the bus doors were closing while her son, Noah, was nowhere to be seen.
“I asked her, I said, ‘My kid didn’t get off the bus, where’s my kid?,’ and she said, ‘Who’s your kid?,’ and I said, ‘Noah, Noah Johnson-Richardson,’ and she said, ‘He probably got off at the other stop,’” Johnson said, recalling her conversation with the bus driver. “I was not aware that there was another stop. (...) That attendant didn’t even know who my kid was.”
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Johnson said it took about another 30 minutes before she and Noah were reunited with the help of law enforcement and other concerned parents.
Noah has an Individualized Education Program, which requires certain accommodations, such as having a bus aide ensure he gets off at the right stop. He said that when he saw children he recognized from his neighborhood get off at a stop, he followed.
“They let me off, they didn’t say anything. I just got off and I just waited until mom came,” Noah said.
The school district has since removed the attendant from that route.
A spokesperson says the district is taking the investigation very seriously and that Johnson has spoken to a member of their leadership team and the Transportation Department.
“We will take necessary actions and make any changes needed to further ensure student safety,” the spokesperson said.