Log in to WRAL.com with one click using your favorite social network:
OR
Log in using your WRAL.com account:



Wrong email/password combination.

Forgot password?

Register with WRAL.com using your favorite social network:
OR
Register for a WRAL.com account using our web form.

Login Options

10:46 p.m. • 2-10-12

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

  • Sat: Mostly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 52° F
  • Sun: Clear.
    • Hi: 43° F
  • Mon: Mostly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 50° F

Other Locations

> 7 Day Forecast

Doppler Image

Marketplace Links

Social Links

Main Menu

First-grader dropped off at wrong bus stop


e-mail print friendly
Omarion Garrett
Omarion Garrett

A Wake County parent says her first-grader was dropped off at the wrong bus stop one day last week. It is the latest in a string of similar complaints filed by parents of young bus riders.

Porsha Garrett said that for more than 30 minutes Thursday, no one knew where her son, Omarion, was.

"I was kinda scared,” Omarion Garrett said.

Garrett said it all began when she went to pick up Omarion at his bus stop Thursday after his first day of school at Stough Elementary on Edwards Mill Road in Raleigh.

“My son isn't here. I am waiting. I am standing. I am standing. I am waiting,” Garrett recalled.

Garrett called Stough Elementary and said she was told school officials did not know where Omarion was either.

"Oh my God, I have never been so scared in all my life,” she said.

More than 30 minutes later, a stranger called and said he had Omarion and that the 6-year-old was safe. Garrett said Omarion had been dropped off at a bus stop further down the road and wandered about alone until the stranger found him.

“He was very upset. He was shaking. He was, 'Momma, oh momma, I am glad that you got me,'” she said.

Garrett said an identification card Omarion's school uses helped find her son. All Wake County kindergartners and first-graders got an identification card on the first day of school this year. It has the school's name, student's name, bus stop location and route printed on it.

The ID badges were designed to help reduce confusion, which can occur with almost 900 school buses making 25,000 stops to pick up nearly 70,000 students. In nearly all of those stops, parents say bus drivers get their children to school and back home safely.

“I can almost set my watch by her (bus driver),” parent Amy Youngquist said.

However, if your child is suddenly nowhere to be found, Garrett said, it can be hard to trust the system again.

"The first day I sent my son to school, I don't even know if he is going to come back,” Garrett said.

Omarion isn't the first student to report being left at the wrong bus stop. There were two incidents over the summer with year-round students. A 5-year-old was dropped off at a bus stop miles from home, and a 6-year-old was dropped off at the wrong time – also far from his home.

One bus driver resigned and the other was disciplined. In response to the incidents, every bus driver attended a training session over the summer. It re-emphasized the procedures and practices for picking-up and dropping-off students.

School officials said they are investigating Omarion's incident.

RELATED TOPICS: Wake County, Raleigh

e-mail print friendly

115 Comments


WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

View Comments VIEW ALL 115 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments
i don't see where in the story the bus passed her by, it says she was waiting for her son. either way, i am glad this young boy was ok and not harmed in anyway. i am sure him mom was feeling a little panic. wcpss isn't the best in the world anyway

zanerx...the article says he was dropped off at another stop down the road. Also if she were there when the bus arrived, she would have seen the bus and retreived her son. You have to be able to read between the lines and interpret some things.

skewlteachrmommy - I never said anyone was at fault. This is more of an "attention" getting article to get people stired up over something that has happen before. Either in Wake Co, NC or any other state.

I don't know what article you folks are reading, but there is nothing in this article that states that the mother was not at the stop when the bus arrived, or that he was dropped off at the next stop. Quit assuming things just to blame the mother! Gee - I wonder why so many of you are doing that ...

I think that kindergarteners and 1st graders need cell phones. They also need phones on buses so the parents can call the bus drivers and find out what happened to their children. If they put the child on the wrong stop they should be fired until they learn their errors.

View Comments VIEW ALL 115 COMMENTS
Report It

Multimedia

Click Here