Ask the Kid

[abbey1227]

.........how this could have happened. 

Boy with autism found in bus yard after placed on wrong school bus

By WISN Staff  Published: May. 22, 2021 at 1:22 PM UTC

MILWAUKEE (WISN) - A mother in Wisconsin is outraged after she says her son, who has autism and is nonverbal, ended up at a bus yard after he was placed on the wrong bus home.

Petria Reliford began to panic Thursday afternoon when her 7-year-old son Jeremiah didn’t come home from school.

“He didn’t com home. We waited until like 4:30, 4:45, 5 o’clock,” she said. “So, I had a panic. So, I said, ‘Oh wow, where’s Jeremiah?”

Reliford said she dropped Jeremiah off that morning at Grantosa Elementary School, and he was to have taken a bus back home. When the bus didn’t bring him home, she went to the school to look for him.

She said the school told her he was marked absent on the bus.

“They stated that they didn’t have Jeremiah on the bus, they don’t know where Jeremiah’s at,” Reliford said. “I said, ‘how could y’all let this happen?’”

Reliford called the police and filed a report. She waited for hours until she got a call at about 7 p.m. that Jeremiah had been found at the First Student Bus Company’s bus yard.

In an emailed statement, the company reported Jeremiah had been placed on the wrong bus at the school. When the driver discovered he was on the wrong bus, he brought Jeremiah back to the bus yard.
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According to the company, Jeremiah “was never left unattended” and “their entire team worked to get him home safely.”

A spokesperson for Milwaukee Public Schools said they don’t know how Jeremiah was put on the wrong bus.

After the incident, Reliford said she took Jeremiah to a hospital to be checked out. She said he was physically unharmed, but traumatized.

www.wbay.com/2021/05/22/boy-with-autism-found-in-bus-yard-after-placed-on-wrong-school-bus/

[Prometheus]

Let's hear your take, Abs.

Was it the fault of the parents for not picking up their kid?

Was it the teacher who put the kid on the wrong bus?

Was it the bus driver? The bus monitor?

Maybe it was government inadequacies? One kid got put on the wrong bus so now it's time to stop offering buses to public school children?

[abbey1227]

May 24, 2021 11:50:28 GMT Prometheus said:

Let's hear your take, Abs.

Was it the fault of the parents for not picking up their kid?

Was it the teacher who put the kid on the wrong bus?

Was it the bus driver? The bus monitor?

Maybe it was government inadequacies? One kid got put on the wrong bus so now it's time to stop offering buses to public school children?

There was a time........... when in order to even be eligible to be sent out to a public school, you had to have matured enough to be able to provide your full name, who your parents were and maybe even where you lived.......and also be able to go to the bathroom all by yourself.

Now........we've expanded this notion of education for all.......even though it's clearly a waste of time and resources for some very specific cases.........and when the inevitable and extremely predictable happens...... we're all supposed to be just as outraged and support yet another lawsuit?

C'mon, man. I know you're the biggest hearted teacher out there supporting every cause and wishing everyone could be edumacated into their Masters Degree to reach their own person well rounded best potential...........but none of this seems like it's ever asking just a bit too much of others? Really?

[Prometheus]

May 24, 2021 14:57:03 GMT abbey1227 said:

May 24, 2021 11:50:28 GMT Prometheus said:

Let's hear your take, Abs.

Was it the fault of the parents for not picking up their kid?

Was it the teacher who put the kid on the wrong bus?

Was it the bus driver? The bus monitor?

Maybe it was government inadequacies? One kid got put on the wrong bus so now it's time to stop offering buses to public school children?

There was a time........... when in order to even be eligible to be sent out to a public school, you had to have matured enough to be able to provide your full name, who your parents were and maybe even where you lived.......and also be able to go to the bathroom all by yourself.

Now........we've expanded this notion of education for all.......even though it's clearly a waste of time and resources for some very specific cases.........and when the inevitable and extremely predictable happens...... we're all supposed to be just as outraged and support yet another lawsuit?

C'mon, man. I know you're the biggest hearted teacher out there supporting every cause and wishing everyone could be edumacated into their Masters Degree to reach their own person well rounded best potential...........but none of this seems like it's ever asking just a bit too much of others? Really?

I'm guessing the child in question doesn't have classes with the other kids... at least not all the time, but I don't know where he is on the CAR Scale so...

Sure, the school is just being used as a daycare center so the parents can work for a few hours a day, but since the school allows that to happen, I think the teachers and aids should get it right. I don't think it should be "easily predictable." And I think that you ever predicted it before you read about it except in the broadest sense of, "Mistakes are going to happen." Well, DUH!

Of course mistakes are going to happen, but not all the time and not to everyone. And mistakes do need to be punished. I'm sure that you'd agree to that, so what's your problem here?

And I don't wish for everyone to reach their Master's degree. I've never said anything of the sort.

Do I think it's asking too much for the teacher or aid to put the kid on the right bus? No. I don't think that is asking for too much at all. I think that's their fucking job.

I'll even spread some blame to the parents for not being "alarmed" sooner. I'm guessing that an uncommunicative, autistic child needs to be met at the bus stop by a parent or guardian. The moment the bus passed by the house or stop without stopping should have been the exact moment that the parents started making phone calls, not waiting for "a couple hours."

I absolutely believe in responsibility, Abs. The school failed in its responsibility and the parents failed in theirs. Do I think the person at the school should be fired for their mistake? Not really, but they probably will be. Do I think the child should be taken away from the parents and given to other people whose sense of responsibility might be even less than that of the parents? No. Do I think the parents should get some sort of huge pay day over this incident? Not really, but they probably will because we live in times when money is the universal salve for all hurts.

And that last sentence is really your point of contention, right? That money has to come from somewhere and that "somewhere" is out of the pockets of the taxpayer.

What's your suggestion for fixing it, Abs?

[abbey1227]

May 25, 2021 4:04:54 GMT Prometheus said:

I'm guessing the child in question doesn't have classes with the other kids... at least not all the time, but I don't know where he is on the CAR Scale so...

Sure, the school is just being used as a daycare center so the parents can work for a few hours a day, but since the school allows that to happen, I think the teachers and aids should get it right. I don't think it should be "easily predictable." And I think that you ever predicted it before you read about it except in the broadest sense of, "Mistakes are going to happen." Well, DUH!

Of course mistakes are going to happen, but not all the time and not to everyone. And mistakes do need to be punished. I'm sure that you'd agree to that, so what's your problem here?

And I don't wish for everyone to reach their Master's degree. I've never said anything of the sort.

Do I think it's asking too much for the teacher or aid to put the kid on the right bus? No. I don't think that is asking for too much at all. I think that's their fucking job.

I'll even spread some blame to the parents for not being "alarmed" sooner. I'm guessing that an uncommunicative, autistic child needs to be met at the bus stop by a parent or guardian. The moment the bus passed by the house or stop without stopping should have been the exact moment that the parents started making phone calls, not waiting for "a couple hours."

I absolutely believe in responsibility, Abs. The school failed in its responsibility and the parents failed in theirs. Do I think the person at the school should be fired for their mistake? Not really, but they probably will be. Do I think the child should be taken away from the parents and given to other people whose sense of responsibility might be even less than that of the parents? No. Do I think the parents should get some sort of huge pay day over this incident? Not really, but they probably will because we live in times when money is the universal salve for all hurts.

And that last sentence is really your point of contention, right? That money has to come from somewhere and that "somewhere" is out of the pockets of the taxpayer.

What's your suggestion for fixing it, Abs?

it has to come from somewhere?  And you're perfectly fine with it being taxpayers? 

My solution for actually fixing it is simple........go back to the olde rules/expectations of minimum requirements for children being sent to public schools.

Do I feel bad for the kid and the parents that ultimately have to endure the bad hand they've been dealt? Yes. They didn't even bother to have Contact Info on the kid at all times, but everyone else should have done more?

But do I feel the suffering should be spread around for all to endure? No. Sorry, I do not.

[Prometheus]

May 25, 2021 4:14:03 GMT abbey1227 said:

May 25, 2021 4:04:54 GMT Prometheus said:

I'm guessing the child in question doesn't have classes with the other kids... at least not all the time, but I don't know where he is on the CAR Scale so...

Sure, the school is just being used as a daycare center so the parents can work for a few hours a day, but since the school allows that to happen, I think the teachers and aids should get it right. I don't think it should be "easily predictable." And I think that you ever predicted it before you read about it except in the broadest sense of, "Mistakes are going to happen." Well, DUH!

Of course mistakes are going to happen, but not all the time and not to everyone. And mistakes do need to be punished. I'm sure that you'd agree to that, so what's your problem here?

And I don't wish for everyone to reach their Master's degree. I've never said anything of the sort.

Do I think it's asking too much for the teacher or aid to put the kid on the right bus? No. I don't think that is asking for too much at all. I think that's their fucking job.

I'll even spread some blame to the parents for not being "alarmed" sooner. I'm guessing that an uncommunicative, autistic child needs to be met at the bus stop by a parent or guardian. The moment the bus passed by the house or stop without stopping should have been the exact moment that the parents started making phone calls, not waiting for "a couple hours."

I absolutely believe in responsibility, Abs. The school failed in its responsibility and the parents failed in theirs. Do I think the person at the school should be fired for their mistake? Not really, but they probably will be. Do I think the child should be taken away from the parents and given to other people whose sense of responsibility might be even less than that of the parents? No. Do I think the parents should get some sort of huge pay day over this incident? Not really, but they probably will because we live in times when money is the universal salve for all hurts.

And that last sentence is really your point of contention, right? That money has to come from somewhere and that "somewhere" is out of the pockets of the taxpayer.

What's your suggestion for fixing it, Abs?

it has to come from somewhere?  And you're perfectly fine with it being taxpayers? 

My solution for actually fixing it is simple........go back to the olde rules/expectations of minimum requirements for children being sent to public schools.

Do I feel bad for the kid and the parents that ultimately have to endure the bad hand they've been dealt? Yes. They didn't even bother to have Contact Info on the kid at all times, but everyone else should have done more?

But do I feel the suffering should be spread around for all to endure? No. Sorry, I do not.

1. Yes. I'm fine with it being the taxpayers. That's what being part of a society is about: taking the bad with the good. If the society wants to deal with fewer bad things, then they need to make the necessary changes... as a society.

2&3. TBH, I don't recall ever having an interview before being allowed into kindergarten... but I do recall that more than a few of my classmates didn't know their numbers quite well enough to have ever properly identified their address or a phone number where their moms could be reached, so I'm guessing they didn't get interviewed either. 

I could have passed the interview though. I knew my address and phone number. In fact, I can still remember that information clearly but I couldn't tell you the last phone number I had in Jersey before I moved to China.

Because I lived less than a mile from the school, I was a "walker" not a "bus kid." Ruthy (a 6th grader who lived across the street) would walk me to school in the morning and I was picked up after school by Carol, a friend of mom and dad's who babysat me until mom and dad finished work. Kindergarten was only half-day back then. My teacher would walk me to Carol's car.

When I started 1st grade, I was deemed sufficiently mature to cross streets by myself and no longer walked with Ruthy... who was now in a different school anyway. Carol no longer picked me up. I walked home and my brother, Ruthy, or some other neighborhood girl would greet me at the top of the driveway to babysit me in my home until mom and dad got there.

But just in case something went wrong and I was incapable of speech, there was always a laundry label sewn inside my jacket with all the pertinent info.

When I did start taking a bus - during busing - kids were walked outside and made to line up under a sign indicating the bus number. If a kid couldn't remember their bus number, the teachers all had printouts of which kids belonged on which buses that were updated daily by the office to indicate known absences. Once everyone was there, we were walked to the buses and re-verified again by the bus monitor as we got on.

It's really not that complicated to get little kids on the right bus. It's just a matter of every person in the chain knowing how to do their job and doing it correctly.

Had I ever been "misplaced," my father would have raised holy hell and someone probably would have ended up fired... just to save them from my dad beating the principal to death, but he never would have sued the city over any "trauma." In fact, dad probably would have yelled at and grounded me for allowing anyone to put me on the wrong bus.

My daughter was always a "walker" or a "drop off" so I can't really be sure how I would have reacted if she had been put on the wrong bus, but I suppose I would have yelled at the principal a little then yelled at my daughter for letting it happen.

4. Societies won't change if they don't suffer.

[abbey1227]

May 25, 2021 5:57:09 GMT Prometheus said:

4. Societies won't change if they don't suffer.

Interesting view......... I'm all for tough love.

I don't see enough suffering though......and others see too much.

I see the learning curve going in the wrong direction.

[Prometheus]

May 25, 2021 8:30:33 GMT abbey1227 said:

May 25, 2021 5:57:09 GMT Prometheus said:

4. Societies won't change if they don't suffer.

Interesting view......... I'm all for tough love.

I don't see enough suffering though......and others see too much.

I see the learning curve going in the wrong direction.

Then you have to remove the object of desire. Make direct monetary payments unattainable in certain cases and watch the problem go away. If that seems farfetched, how about taxing money received via lawsuits at 90%? Caps on payouts? Limit suits to only those causing grievous bodily harm or death?