A grandmother said she panicked when her granddaughter didn’t get off the school bus on Tuesday.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00 am, Linda Williams has custody of her two grandchildren. She dropped them off at the bus stop Tuesday morning for their first day of school, but when their grandfather went to pick them up at the bus stop, panic struck.
POPULAR STORIES:
“Grandpa went to the bus stop to pick them up and only the little boy got out,” Williams said. “He asked the bus driver, and even our grandson, ‘Where’s your sister?’ And he was like… ‘She didn’t get on the bus.'”
Williams said she tried to contact the school but was unsuccessful.
“Even the bus driver is trying to log in via the radio, but he can’t get through because everything is so busy,” Williams said.
A spokesperson for Vandalia Butler Schools said these “major transportation challenges” were “unacceptable.”
In a statement sent to parents and provided to News Center 7, Vandalia Butler Schools said, in part:
“First, we sincerely apologize for the delay in the discharge today. The amount of time it took to discharge not only bus passengers, but also our car passengers is not typical; even for a first day. We were at a disadvantage from the start with several St. Chris buses rear-ending, making an already difficult situation even worse.”
“It’s not a delay in discharge. You lost children today, that’s not a delay,” Williams said. “Someone needs to be held accountable to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Vandalia police confirmed they responded to calls Tuesday afternoon from concerned parents and caregivers who said their children had not been dropped off.
News Center 7 continues to follow this story.
[SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
