The fear of your child going missing is a uniquely harrowing thing for parents, and something which is never to be taken lightly.
Therefore, when one Texas mother noticed that her child didn’t get off the bus on the way home from elementary school, she was terrified, and ultimately furious when she discovered why.
One mother was waiting for her 7-year-old son to come home from school when she began to worry.
Tipton’s son, Gunner Rex, had not arrived home on the bus which he was meant to take, which sent her into a panic.
Speaking to KXAN , Tipton described the feeling as, “the scariest thing that I’ve ever gone through […] All I could think about was, he’s 7, so he got off on the wrong stop and I have no idea where he’s at.”
Tipton’s son attends Callison Elementary School in Round Rock.
The distraught mother called the school in an attempt to locate her son, and was furious to find out what had happened.
Tipton’s son was still at the school office, due to an apparent mix-up between children.
Tipton reportedly said that the school administrators described the mix-up to her as a “minor” error.
The substitute teacher in charge of Gunner Rex’s first grade class had mixed him up with another boy, whom the teacher had sent on the bus meant for Gunner by accident.
What was most concerning to the mother was that this is not an isolated incident.
According to her interview with the radio station KXAN, Tipton’s daughter had been incorrectly told she was being picked up and made to stay instead of getting the bus earlier in the same school year.
Tipton expressed her worry that an incident like this could happen repeatedly.
“It’s a serious thing that should have never happened once, let alone twice.”
What is most confusing is that the school, despite having discovered the mix-up, did not inform Tipton, but instead waited for her to call them.
The school district’s transportation director admitted that this has security issue for some time.
Districts transportation director Ms Fausett was quoted as saying, by Yahoo Lifestyle , “Our process on that is to take them as soon as we can, depends on our route, back to the campus. And they’re safe from the time they get on until they get back to the campus. Meanwhile, the parent is called and informed of the situation.”
Despite claims that it is protocol to let the parents know, Tipton says she was not contacted.
In order to try and prevent this sort of thing from happening again, the district is hoping to employ SMART Tag devices on their busses, which will hopefully stop this sort of stress being put on worried parents.
The SMART Tag was designed by a school bus driver to enhance the safety of students riding the bus.
The way that the tag works is, upon entering the bus the student presents their low-cost ID Card. The SMART Tag system then logs the time, student info, and location and uses this information to verify whether the student should be on that specific bus. Finally, when the student is getting off the bus, they present the ID Card once again and the system ascertains whether or not the stop they are getting of at is the correct one.
Fausett is confident in the SMART Tag software’s ability to help the district.
Fausett was quoted as saying, “By the end of the school year, we’re hoping to have all 54 campuses up and running [with the SMART Tag system].”
Hopefully the implementation of SMART Tag will prevent this sort of thing in the future.
Anything that can be done to increase the safety of America’s children is surely an avenue worth pursuing.
h/t: Yahoo Lifestyle
