Houston middle school students stranded by bus driver: ‘Anything could have happened’

By Briana Conner

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    HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Two 11-year-old girls were left alone miles from home after school on Monday, according to one mother who she claims a bus driver knowingly ditched the students at the wrong stop.

The girls are safe now, but there are still questions about why this happened and who’s responsible.

“I don’t want this to happen to anyone else’s child. This cannot happen again,” said Carmen Saa.

Her 11-year-old daughter, Kamora, is a sixth-grader at Teague Middle School. She said she usually picks her up after school, but on Monday, she instructed her to take the school bus home.

Kamora and a friend were the last two riders when they realized they were on the wrong bus.

“We said, ‘That’s not our stop,’ and [the bus driver] said, ‘Get off and walk home,” according to Kamora.

“The bus driver told them to get off at a stop that was almost 15 minutes away from our home,” Saa said.

Kamora said she was scared, and she didn’t know where she was.

Saa tracked her daughter’s phone to the Greenbriar Colony neighborhood, which is a little more than four miles away from their home on the other side of the Hardy Toll Road.

Kamora stayed there until her grandmother could pick her up, which was roughly 35 minutes later.

“I’ve reached out to the schools. I’ve reached out to [the] transportation [department], and no one has yet provided me with an answer for why they were taken off the bus and not taken to somewhere safe, where an adult was there to protect them. Anything could have happened to my child,” Saa said.

A spokesperson for Aldine ISD sent ABC 13 a statement confirming an investigation into the incident.

“Student safety is a priority for Aldine ISD. As such, the District is investigating an incident involving a Teague Middle School student who got on the wrong bus yesterday,” the spokesperson said. “The Transportation Department is conducting interviews of the parent, staff and students to determine whether department protocols were followed. In the event a student is not on the correct route, the driver should contact dispatch to retrieve the correct stop or return the student to his/her home campus. Where a driver has not followed protocols, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken based on the investigation findings and conclusions. Aldine ISD’s Transportation Department will continue to work with our campuses so that our students safely travel to and from school.”

Kamora said the bus driver demonstrated a full understanding of what should have happened.

“She should have taken us home or taken us back to school,” Kamora said.

Now, her mother said she’s determined to make sure that protocol is followed in the future.

“We are just grateful that she’s home,” Saa said. “She’s safe, and we just have to make sure we protect other children.”

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