CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (KDVR) — Parents are demanding answers from school and district staff after a bus driver dropped 40 elementary school children off in an area different from their bus stop.
The incident happened after school Monday on a route that serves students at Clear Sky Elementary.
Douglas County School District released the following statement: “We are in contact with the families of the 40 students who were dropped off yesterday at a different area than their regular bus stop after school. This is incredibly concerning as the safety of our students is always our priority. We will continue to partner with the Castle Rock Police Department (CRPD) on this matter and the bus driver is currently on leave while we conduct our own internal investigation.”
According to multiple parents, a substitute school bus driver was behind the wheel. DCSD has not confirmed that information.
“She’s normally dropped off around 4:15 in the neighborhood, pretty much right at the corner,” Tony Martin said.
Martin said he got a message from the SMART Tag Parent app the bus carrying his eight-year-old daughter home from school would be delayed Monday afternoon. He says it is not unusual for the bus to be delayed due to traffic.
It showed his daughter was dropped off at 4:45 p.m. However, she was about a mile and a half from her stop.
“Another kid from another family one street above us came by and stopped and asked if she was home and we were like no, we had assumed she was just playing with her friends while walking this way. And he said no, that he was dropped off several neighborhoods away from where he was supposed to be and walked and that she was dropped off somewhere else randomly,” Martin said.
The father said he started to panic when he learned more about his daughter’s journey home from school that day.
“The bus driver had missed several stops. And when the GPS was telling him to go right he would take a left or it would say go straight he would make a random turn. So he had no idea what he was doing or where he was going,” Martin said.
According to Martin and several other parents who spoke off-camera to FOX31, the driver became frustrated and ordered the children off the bus outside Cedar Hill Cemetery near the corner of Wolfensberger Road and Red Hawk Drive/Auburn Drive. Some of the areas do not have sidewalks.
“Several kids were crying and being hysterical because their stops were missed and they didn’t know what was going on,” Martin said.
Multiple parents also said their children reported the driver using vulgar language and threats toward the students.
“When she got home she was very hysterical, traumatized. Uncontrollably crying because she said I felt like I was being kidnapped,” Martin said.
Castle Rock police officers were dispatched to locate missing children after the incident Monday night. According to parents, strangers also pulled over to pick up kids seen wandering along the street including Martin’s daughter.
“Luckily it was a gentleman, we don’t know- we don’t know his name or exactly who he was, but he brought her home. The only reason she got in the car with him is because she knew the little girl from her school,” he said.
Martin said he is now considering getting his 3rd grader a cell phone for emergencies. He is also questioning if he can trust the Douglas County School District to keep his child safe.
“This is unacceptable and sorry will never be enough,” he said.
