Ottawa-area boy, 5, forgotten on school bus for three hours
‘Child check’ not carried out right, says Valley Bus lines GM
Five-year-old Caiden Mayor fell asleep on his school bus. When he awoke, he couldn’t get off because he had been locked in.
He cried and cried as he called for help.
But none came.
Only after at least three hours, when the Valley Bus lines Ltd. bus driver returned to his vehicle for his next run, was Caiden discovered.
“I was horrified when I found out,” said Greg Pietersma, chairman of the Upper Canada District School Board, which is conducting an investigation.
Caiden, a student at Kemptville Public School, south of Ottawa, didn’t show for his class Thursday morning and proper protocol wasn’t followed, Pietersma said Friday. “We have a safe arrival program,” said Pietersma, explaining when there is an unexplained student absence, school administrators must contact family. “That didn’t happen.” KPS vice-principal Tanya Preston refused to comment Friday on why proper protocol wasn’t followed and hung up the phone on two occasions. Caiden’s father, John Mayor, said his son cried for so long, stuck on the bus in -4 C weather, that his eyes were red and puffy. “The bus driver told (my wife) that he didn’t do his check when he parked the bus at his house,” he said. “My son’s eyes were puffy and red and he was crying and looked like he had been crying for a long time.” Valley Bus lines is also conducting an internal investigation. John Vingerhoeds, a Valley general manager, said a proper “child check” was not carried out by the driver, who joined the company in September. “It’s imperative the child check is done thoroughly and unfortunately it was not done thoroughly,” he said, adding the bus driver was not working Friday.
Vingerhoeds would not discuss if the driver would be back at work Monday, or what discipline may be coming.
He declined to share any other details.
Caiden’s father said he was told the driver, who apologized profusely and drove Caiden home after finding him, offered to resign.