School bus scares continue for moms in Richmond County
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - We’re learning about two more Richmond County bus incidents involving 4K students.
On August 15, we shared the dangerous ride one Richmond County 4K student took when her mother said she was dropped off at the wrong bus stop miles from home.
Now, within the last week, Richmond County school leaders confirm there have been two more cases.
And those parents are calling on you to make sure your child knows where to go.
Two moms are sharing the same freighting story.
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“I received a call and the lady on the other end said, ‘I have your daughter.’ I cry just thinking about it. She said, ‘I have your daughter,’” said one mom, Ashley Ladler.
Another mom, who wishes to stay anonymous, said: “I was at work when I got the phone call that my daughter wasn’t at the daycare. So, you know, my instant thought was, where is she?”
Both moms say their daughters were put on a bus — one at Bayvale Elementary, the other at Richmond Hill.
But there’s just one problem — neither child is a bus rider.
“I feel like this could have been avoided had they looked at her book bag and seen that she goes to daycare and is not supposed to be put on a bus. You know, I just don’t understand,” said the anonymous mom.
Ladler said: “Every day before she goes to school, we take a video, and she waves at the car to say goodbye. It’s cute until it’s not cute. It’s a scary reality that my child could have been waving goodbye to me forever.”
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Ladler says her daughter, Arlysse, goes to after-school care, right there at the school.
She says the school tells her teachers are required to check book bag tags.
But she’s questioning how the youngest students keep ending up in the wrong place.
“I would like to know that policies are being followed. We need to make some changes. This is a system issue. We need to make changes, and we need to make sure that the instructors, the s, the bus drivers, are following the policies that we change because there’s no need to change the rules if nobody is following them, these things will continue to happen until we make sure that policies, procedures, rules are being followed,” said Ladler.
Richmond County school leaders say they know this is a system-wide issue and that’s why they are meeting with every school principal in the district on Wednesday.
They want to address these issues and review policies and procedures to make sure the problem ends here.
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