Columbia school changes bus protocol

Shepard Elementary in Columbia is now changing its bus protocol after a 5-year-old student was dropped off at the wrong bus stop.

Tuesday night, the young girl was dropped off at a trailer park just off of Clark Lane. A parent of one of the other students on the bus noticed the child was not dropped off at the right location and took her home about seven blocks away.

The student’s mother, Kayla Sefrit, said her daughter did not get home until around 7:00, which was over an hour and 15 minutes after the school club was dismissed.

Sefrit said every bad thought a parent could think ran through her head when her daughter didn’t come home. She said she went from feeling helpless to enraged to terrified.

Shepard Elementary School Principal Jacquie Ward said the school kicks into high gear when a student gets off at the wrong stop.

Jacquie Ward, Shepard Elementary School Principal: “That’s scary at that point in time because we have to then investigate. And we’ll call the parents, call the kids that were on the bus to interview and see where they are. And we’ve never had, thank god, a child missing, but we’re always really good with following up. And we won’t leave school until kids are home safely.”

Sefrit said her daughter saw the bus pass her neighborhood and got off because she thought she missed her stop. She did not know that the driver was going to make a loop back to her neighborhood.

The after-school program she is in meets once a month and met for the first time Tuesday, so it was a brand new bus route. Ward said there were 40 kids in the after-school program on the bus for the whole Shepard school district. On a normal school day, there are several buses for a smaller portion within that wide area.

Ward said next time she will personally make sure all of the students make it home safe.

Ward: “I think that’s what we have to focus on is what we can do differently. My plan will be to ride the bus next time.”

Columbia Public Schools said the incident was an unfortunate mistake. They will also make sure the school puts name tags on the children in the future since the bus drivers do not know the children individually.

Sefrit said she is happy a school administrator will be on the bus for the rest of the meetings. And she will be sending her daughter to the after-school program again next month.