RICHMOND, Va. -- A brand new bus driver for Richmond Public Schools left a 3-year-old student from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Preschool Learning Center in the arms of a stranger on Monday afternoon, according to a school spokesperson.
Tommy Krantz with RPS said the bus driver mistakenly left the child at the wrong stop in the care of an unauthorized adult after failing to verifying the identity of that adult.
Latika Gary said her 3-year-old daughter, Simone, got on the bus to return home Monday afternoon.
Gary said before arriving at Simone's stop at Whitcomb Court, the bus stopped in Mosby Court, where an unknown woman took Simone and another child off the bus.
"That's a stranger waving my baby off the bus," Gary said.
Krantz said the school system's policy is to confirm the identify of anyone picking up children in first grade and younger at the bus stop, unless that adult is known to the driver.
"If the driver is not familiar with them there needs to be a question raised a call placed to our dispatch and it's determined that is the proper individual to give that child to. We didn't follow that yesterday," Krantz said.
Gary said, from what she understands, the woman thought her daughter was somebody else and quickly called the school to report her mistake.
Still Gary said that never should have happened.
"I don't care if you've seen me all year long. If I don't have the ID then the baby should not be able to come with me," Gary said.
Krantz said bus drivers in RPS are not required to physically check the ID of people who pick up those younger children at bus stops, but that could change.
"That's something we will evaluate and determine if that is something we want to do going forward," Krantz said.
Krantz said the incident is subject to disciplinary action.
