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Kindergartner left alone on FWISD bus for 5 hours; How could this happen?

After the adults parked and left the vehicle at about 9:20 a.m., the boy was left in his seat until 2:45 p.m. when they found him. The district said he was okay and was quickly reunited with his parents.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Fort Worth ISD is apologizing after a five-year-old special needs student was left alone on a school bus for hours.

"There's no explanation, there's no excuse," said district spokesperson Clint Bond. "We are as a district remorseful, we are sorry. We apologize."

The district says the incident happened on October 15 when the boy was picked up at his regular bus stop by a special needs bus. On board, there was a driver and a trained attendant.

"He was seated three seats back behind the driver," said Bond.

He was supposed to be taken to Lowery Road Elementary School in east Fort Worth, but the district says he remained buckled into his seat after the bus left the school and continued on a second route.

The district said an onboard camera shows the boy remaining in the seat as middle and high school special needs students were picked up and dropped off. Then the bus was driven to a school lot in south Fort Worth, where there is supposed to be a protocol to check every seat.

"We have a button on the back of the bus that the attendant has to walk to, push the button," said Bond. "It makes the lights blink inside the bus, and it makes a notification."

The driver has been with the district 21 years, and the aide seven years. But neither apparently saw the boy still strapped in his seat. The district said while the boy is small, he was in plain view. The footage apparently shows the top of his head just reaching over the seat.

"Having watched the video, I can tell you that the attendant seemed to be more focused on their cellphone than on the children in the bus," said Bond.

After the adults parked and left the vehicle at about 9:20 a.m., the boy was left in his seat until 2:45 p.m. when they found him. The district said he was okay and was quickly reunited with his parents.

"We are all extremely thankful it was not a hot day," said Bond.

Both employees have resigned in lieu of termination, and the district says they are now working to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

"We are taking every step to make sure that every driver and every attendant is retrained," said Bond. "That will be happening in the very near future."

Fort Worth ISD said that CPS also performed an investigation into the incident.

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