TALLAHASSE, Fla. (WTXL) — A Tallahassee mother is looking for answers after her 6-year-old son was allowed to get on a school bus he wasn't supposed to be on.
Leon County School's is blaming the mistake on human error and said it is devoted to making sure it doesn't happen again.
On Monday, Taylor Ratliff's son, Liam, was dropped off but no one was there to meet him. Instead, the 6-year-old wandered around the neighborhood alone.
"My son was supposed to be in after-school," said Ratliff, "and ended up on the bus."
Ratliff says she's frustrated, furious and looking for answers after her 6-year-old son ended up home alone Monday.
"Around 4:30, I received a phone call at work stating that someone had my kid," said Ratliff.
The call came from her neighbor after no one was there to meet Liam at the bus stop. He should have been at after school care at Moore Elementary School where his father was waiting for him.
"Once he found that out, he was quite upset and asking where his son was and the after school worker asked him to leave the premises," Ratliff explained.
When Ratliff reached out to the school she explained she was told, "That he was upset that he was on yellow for the day, and must not have lined up, and somehow got on the bus and didn't go to after-school."
Three days a week, the first-grader is scheduled to ride the bus home, where someone is waiting for him at the bus stop. It's a schedule Ratliff says the teacher and bus driver should have known.
"With pre-k and kindergarten students, the bus drivers pull up to a stop and they wait to see the parent," said Chris Petley, a spokesperson for Leon County Schools. "Being in first grade changes that a little bit. The bus drivers will look for a history of what's gone on throughout the year."
Ratliff was able to speak with superintendent Rocky Hanna on Tuesday and said she's glad to see that the school district is taking what happened seriously.
