A Cleveland father is upset after he says his son was left on the school bus for hours on his first day of classes.
WJW reported that Trevelle Hargrove's 6-year-old son, Trevelle Jr., has special needs. Hargrove said his son fell asleep on the bus.
Trevelle Jr. said he was found after he honked the horn of the bus and jumped up and down.
A spokesperson for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District said Trevelle Jr. fell asleep on the bus Monday and was there for less than an hour. His father says otherwise.
“After an hour and they couldn't tell me what was going on I started to get extremely worried,” Hargrove told WJW. "I couldn't understand why no one could tell me where my son was.”
Hargrove said his son was back four hours later, at 6:30 p.m.
“You can’t just forget to do things,” he said. “This isn’t like a normal job where you forget to put the straw in the bag or you forget to clock in or whatever it is you do at a normal job. You can’t do that when it comes to kids.”
Hargrove said his son won’t be riding the bus again any time soon.
The district is is investigating. Cleveland Metropolitan Schools Chief Communications Officer Roseann Canfora issued the following statement to WJW:
“Drivers are trained to follow strict protocols for inspecting every seat at the beginning and end of their routes, and CMSD has a zero tolerance for any violation of these safety guidelines.”
The bus driver has resigned. WJW reported they may be terminated pending the outcome of the district’s investigation.
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