OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — The Osceola County school district has launched an investigation after a nine-year-old boy with special needs was dropped off at the wrong bus stop Tuesday, district staff confirmed.
The boy’s mother, Laquisha Johnson, said she panicked after her son Noah didn’t appear with the other kids who just finished their second day of school.
As the bus was about to leave, she said she ran up to question the aide.
“She said, ‘Yeah, he probably got off at the other stop.’ And I said, ‘Okay, call somebody, because he doesn’t get off the bus by himself,’” Johnson said.
Noah’s IEP requires district staff to ensure he gets on the correct bus at the end of the day and gets off at the correct stop, where Johnson or another adult is supposed to be waiting for him.
Noah, who wasn’t familiar with the area because his family had just moved into the neighborhood the week before, recognized that something was off.
“I thought mom was late,” he recalled initially, before looking around, “I remember there was a [stop] sign near the bus stop and there wasn’t a sign.”
Noah decided to park himself at the stop and wait for help, although he refused another parent’s offer to call his mother because of stranger danger.
Johnson said that observant mother drove to find her – and waiting deputies – instead. The situation, she said, was heaven-sent. The deputy who responded to the call had met the family at a shopping center over the weekend and already knew of Noah.
With her son safely back, she had a message for the district.
“I’m doing my part. I just want y’all to do your part,” she said. “That’s all -- and not have a mom feel what I felt today.”
District administrators said they were taking the situation very seriously. One senior administrator called Johnson Tuesday, and she had plans to meet with staff Wednesday.
Noah is attending one of the new hubbed schools for special needs students this year. Johnson said she never had any issues with his prior school, but it was the second day in a row his new school had an incident.
The day before, Noah believed he was being picked up by his mother and never got onto the bus.
“There’s a lot of parents that don’t know their rights when it comes to the IEPs and know what your kids should and should be getting,” Johnson said. “I’m going to work with them, and we going to get it right.”
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