Fridley preschooler found by students after being left on bus for 4 hours
A Fridley family is calling attention to school bus safety after their 4-year-old son was left on the bus for hours.
Fridley Public School District confirmed the incident happened on Friday, Jan. 24.
“It was very painful,” Bereket Kidance, father, said.
Kidance said his 4-year-old son is normally excited to go to school, but his parents said lately he only feels safe at home.
“He cried and said, ‘No, I don’t want to go. I’m scared,’” Semhar Andu, his mother, said.
When Fridley Preschool lets out for the day, their son is picked up from the bus stop.
When Kidance went to pick up his young child from the bus stop on Jan. 24, he was not dropped off.
“Oh, my God, that day was bad. I was at work, and I couldn’t even work. I kept crying,” Andu said in tears.
The parents called Fridley Public Schools for answers. They were told their son was marked absent for the day.
His father went to the school to try and find him. “They did a lot of searching. They couldn’t find him,” Kidane said.
Kidane said the school called the bus company.
They said high school students found the young child sleeping on the same bus he boarded in the morning.
His parents believe he was on the bus for over four hours.
Fridley Public Schools sent a statement confirming he was “unintentionally” left on the bus saying in part, “We are deeply concerned about this incident.”
The school said as a precaution, they’ve added additional supervision for when students get to school and an expedited check in with parents if students are marked absent.
“Our kids need to be in [the] safe environment to go into school,” Kidane said.
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reached out to the bus companies listed on the school district website to get in touch with the bus company responsible. We are still waiting for a response.
Fridley Public Schools’ full statement can be found below.
On Friday, January 24, a preschool student was unintentionally left on a bus operated by our district’s contracted bus service provider during an afternoon route. The bus driver then continued on their route for older students.
When a high school student departed the bus, they informed the driver that a preschool student was still on the bus. The driver then immediately addressed the situation, and the preschool student was reunified with their parent a short time later. The parents of the student were notified of what took place.
We are deeply concerned about this incident. We contracted with the bus service provider to provide safe and reliable transportation. We have remained in close contact with them as they conduct their investigation and take appropriate corrective action.
In the interim, we have been reviewing our policies and protocols. As added precautions, we have added additional supervision as students arrive at school and an expedited check-in with parents of students who are absent.