Mother Is Furious After Her Nonverbal Daughter With Autism Was Dropped Off At Mistaken Faculty
A California mother is furious after her eight-year-old daughter, who has severe autism, was dropped off at the wrong school.
An Elk Grove Unified bus driver was supposed to take Julie Munoz’s daughter Gabby to the Carroll Elementary in Elk Grove, but was dropped off at Franklin Elementary instead.
Gabby is non-verbal, which made the incident worse as she couldn’t ask for help. She got off the bus and stayed around the campus alone.
The only reason the teachers finally found out who she was is because her name was in her backpack.
Gabby always wears a special vest so the bus drivers know she needs special attention, but this time she had a different driver due to a bus driver shortage. In their district alone there are 35 fewer drivers than usual.
New drivers are sometimes unaware of Gabby’s needs and so this mix-up arose.
Munoz, along with other parents, says they are now driving their own children to school instead of putting them on the bus to avoid the same incident from happening again.
Munoz hopes changes will be made within the district to prevent such situations and keep their children safe.
The district has now published a statement on this matter:
“On Wednesday morning, October 27, school officials at Franklin Elementary School noticed a student mistakenly stepping off his bus during the supervised student bus departure. School officials tried to call the student as the student appeared confused, but the student continued to walk onto campus. Once all the students were safely in the school, the teachers informed the school management that a Carroll Elementary School student was on campus. School officials immediately notified Transportation, the student’s family, and the Carroll Elementary School administration team.
The student was never in danger and was safe within the gates of Franklin Elementary School at all times. The teachers followed their check-in protocols and quickly worked with the site administration team to correct the situation. Thanks to multiple check-in systems and procedures at every elementary school, such events can be resolved quickly.
Appropriate measures have been taken to check the protocols for bus acceptance with the responsible personnel. “
