A Brooklyn yellow bus with six nonverbal children went missing for more than four hours last school year, raising alarm for their safety and prompting a report to the NYPD, according to the watchdog agency for New York City’s public schools.
The elementary students, ages 6 to 8, were scheduled to be dropped off at P.S. 289 The Brower School in Crown Heights on Dec. 16 between 8:20 and 9 a.m., said the Special Commissioner of Investigation.
But the bus allegedly did not arrive until 1:25 p.m., after school officials, despite their best efforts, were unable to locate the children.
Investigators said one young girl urinated on herself, the report notes.
“It is highly disturbing that six nonverbal children were left on a school bus for hours while their whereabouts remained unknown to school officials,” Special Commissioner Anastasia Coleman said in a statement.
“These particularly vulnerable students rely on the adults entrusted with their care to ensure their safety,” she said.
The findings come as the city’s school system faces intense pressure to fix school bus services, especially for tens of thousands of students with disabilities who rely on transportation provided by city contracts to get an education. More than 80,000 school bus delays were reported during the 2023-24 school year, according to Advocates for Children of New York, an organization that advocates for improved bus service.
SCI recommended that “problem codes” be associated with two employees involved in the mishap employed by Consolidated Bus Transit, a yellow bus vendor for the city’s schools, so the individuals will be barred from supervising students in the future.
The special commissioner launched its probe into Consolidated bus driver Eric Chery and matron Germina Thomas last year after the office received a complaint based on allegations by a mom of two impacted students with iTags in their backpacks. Both Chery and Thomas were on temporary assignment that day, according to a June 30 SCI memo to the chancellor.
“Both employees have been on administrative leave since the incident 10 months ago, pending investigation proceedings, as required by the labor collective agreement,” said a Carolyn Daly, a spokesperson for Consolidated. “They are not permitted on any of our buses and have no student interface or interactions.”
Carolyn Rinaldi, the vice president of ATU Local 1181, the union that represents school bus drivers and matrons, added: “This matter remains under investigation, and we are committed to ensuring our members’ rights to fairness, due process, and impartial review are fully respected.”
At 10 a.m., about an hour after the scheduled arrival time, the school tried to call Consolidated but got no answer, according to a SCI news release. Shortly before 12 p.m., a dispatcher allegedly told the school that the driver was lost but less than 15 minutes away, but it would be nearly two more hours until the students finally arrived.
In the meantime, the school notified the Education Department’s student transportation office of the bus’s disappearance, which was reported to the NYPD, investigators said.
One student was found wet and lying down on a bus seat after she urinated on herself and removed her own diaper and leggings, according to the news release. The soaked diaper was reported to be discovered on the floor of the school bus.
Thomas, who had worked as a bus matron for nearly two decades, told investigators that she did not speak with Chery during the multi-hour drive for reasons SCI did not explain in the news release or memo. She also allegedly did not attempt to contact the school or bus depot.
Chery told SCI he had been working at Consolidated for less than three months on the date of the incident, living in New York City for a “short time,” and was not fluent in English.
GPS tracking data obtained by investigators also showed the bus was still at one student’s address shortly before 11 AM, even though the driver claimed all students had been picked up an hour earlier, according to the release. Chery said he went to two wrong school addresses before dispatchers helped guide him to the right one.
“Every child, including those with special needs, deserves safe, reliable, and timely transportation to school, and SCI will continue investigating failures that put student safety at risk,” Coleman said.