Buses will not leave Northside Elementary School in Nebraska City until all the students are on the right bus, school Superintendent Jeff Edwards said Tuesday in response to a Friday incident where a boy was lost after being let off a bus in Union.
Edwards said students are supposed to wear a sticker with their name and bus number when school is dismissed.
He said Tuesday morning he did not know whether the students were wearing the stickers on Friday, when six-year-old Seth Foreman was found walking along Highway 34 in Union.
The Northside first grader later told his mother that he told the bus driver he did not live in Union, but was told he had to get off because it was the bus’s last stop.
Edwards said the school will review camera and audio equipment on the bus to determine what was said prior to boy exiting the bus.
Edwards said it is school policy for drivers to call the bus barn and check with a master list of student riders whenver they have an unfamiliar student aboard.
News reports indicate that the bus driver told Nebraska City police that he called his supervisor at the bus barn before the boy exited, about 15 miles from his home.
Edwards said the school also has a policy that students that are not on the correct bus will be brought back to the bus barn.
Edwards said there are so many new students and so many new faces special attention is needed to get students on the correct bus. School at Northside started Wednesday.
“Our apologies go out to the family and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
Nebraska City has four regular bus routes. Three buses leave Northside each school day with about 170 kids.
“Buses will not leave Northside until everyone is on the correct bus,” he said. “The only thing we can do is make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
