POOR YOUNG MOTHER: Teachers put 5-year-old girl on wrong bus…

WEST BARNSTABLE — On just the second day of school, a young mother got the scare of her life when her 5-year-old daughter did not get off at the bus stop.

According to sources, the mom tried to call the school to find out where her child was, but there were random power outages in the area which somehow made it imposssible for her to reach her child’s teachers.

The mom then jumped in her car and drove directly to the Barnstable West Barnstable Elementary School. School officials contacted the bus company, who in turn contacted the bus drivers, but the child still was not located.

The kindergarten student was somehow placed on the wrong school bus, but which one?

The driver of a bus called “Shark City” looked in her rearview mirror at her passengers but did not see the missing girl. When the bus driver completed her route, she did a more thorough check of the school bus and that’s when she found the little girl just sitting there…

… apparently the small 5-year-old could not be seen in the driver’s rearview mirror at the time when she first checked, the backs of the seats were simply too high.

Barnstable Police Officer Troy Perry was also out searching for the child, initially checking the bus yard located near the intersection of Attucks Lane and Phinneys Lane. The mother was notified when the child was located and the officer had the school bus drive the child to the front parking lot of Barnstable Police Headquarters.

The mother arrived at the BPD shortly thereafter and was immediately reunited with her daughter. Officer Perry spoke with the child’s mother to get her side of the story for his report.

After their reunion, HN met the mom and her daughter in the police station’s parking lot. The mom was relieved, but obviously still anxious and shaken up about the whole ordeal. The young child was strapped into the backseat and also looked worn out by the whole ordeal…

At about 5:15PM, it was a happy ending in a police station parking lot for a mother and her young child after a very long and trying day.

But this incident also raises questions as to how this sort of huge mistake could ever happen in the first place. Does the BWB Elementary School have a policy for making sure kindergarten children are placed on the correct bus? Are these young and vulnerable children tracked until they are safely back with their parents?

HN will provide answers and updates as they become available…