PETERSBURG, Va. -- A Petersburg mom said when she went to pick up her 4-year-old son from the bus stop after his first day of Pre-K Tuesday; he was nowhere to be found.
"The lady gets up and is like they never put him on the bus and I say what do you all mean?" said Tee Carter.
The frantic mother then called the school but when she said she wasn't getting any answers she drove straight to the Westview Early Childhood Education Center in Petersburg.
Her son, Tymyl, is enrolled in the preschool program there.
Tee Carter and Tymyl
"We get to the school and they're like 'we don't know' and we look down and Tymyl is behind the counter," said Carter.
Carter said she fears the situation could have turned out worse.
"If he got off the bus at whatever stop they let him off at... something could have happened," said the mother.
Carter still wanted answers from the school system so she contacted CBS 6 Problem Solver Chelsea Rarrick for help.
CBS 6 reached out to Petersburg City Public Schools regarding Carter's concerns.
Tymyl
In an email, spokeswoman Leigh Ann McKelway said, "yesterday, at the end of the first day of school, the student left Westview Early Childhood Education Center on the bus the school believed he should be on, but that was not the bus the student's parent thought he would be on."
McKelway also said Petersburg school bus drivers do not let Pre-K students or kindergartners off the bus if an authorized adult is not at the bus stop to meet them, so the student was returned safely to school on the bus. Westview administrators kept the child supervised and safe. Before the school was able to phone the parent, she arrived to pick up her child.
Still, Carter said shes disappointed with how the school handled the situation.
"I don't know if I should trust them or if I just want to jump in the truck and take him everyday and pick him up," she said.
Petersburg Public Schools said safety is a top priority. The school says they are taking steps to make sure every child gets on the correct bus everyday.
CBS 6 News is working for you. Click here to email a tip to the CBS 6 Problem Solvers. Be sure to leave us your name, phone number and detailed description of the problem. You can also leave a message by calling 804-254-3672.
