Wake County school bus driver, monitor fired after child left on bus
RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) -- A Wake County school bus driver and monitor have been fired after a 6-year-old kindergartner was left on a bus alone for more than an hour after falling asleep.
The incident happened at PAVE Charter School. Khalil Watkins, 6,and his family spoke exclusively with ABC11 last week and explained that he fell asleep riding the bus Thursday morning.
Stay on top of breaking news stories with the ABC11 News App
In the wake of that incident, PAVE Managing Director Alex Quigley released a statement Monday:
"Following the incident last Thursday, PAVE Southeast Raleigh Charter School demanded immediate action from its bus contractor to investigate and take appropriate follow-up action in order to ensure the safety of the children who ride the bus. The contractor confirmed that the driver of the bus and the bus monitor were terminated.
We have also decided not to renew our contract with this contractor next school year. We are committed to providing transportation to and from our school so that all families have equitable access to PAVE. We also are committed to ensuring that student transportation is reliable and safe."
ORIGINAL STORY: RALEIGH KINDERGARTNER LEFT ON SCHOOL BUS
PAVE outsources its bus service and has a contract with Elite Transportation.
A second family is coming forward to complain about a busing problem with their child.
Parent Gabrielle Bredell said a bus driver took her 8-year-old daughter, Sry'Riah Walters, from PAVE to a barren parking lot of the Boys and Girls Club, and left the child there all alone.
"I just don't understand how you can be so careless with somebody else's child," Bredell said.
Bredell said she wasn't able to get to the bus stop in time and the bus driver should have returned the child to the school.
"These are children, they can't defend for themselves," Bredell said.
ABC11 has been reaching out to Elite Transportation since last week and Monday, was able to get a representative on the phone.
The employee would not identify himself, and hung up the phone when asked for comment.
The fact that PAVE is cutting ties with Elite at the end of the school year is offering some resolution to parents.
"Unless you guys did the story, I don't think there would have been anything done whatsoever," Bredell said.
