KEWASKUM, Wis. — The Washington County Sheriff's Office is recommending charges after a school bus driver left a child unattended on a bus following their afternoon route in the Kewaskum School District.
The 4-year-old child was left alone on the hot bus after the driver failed to conduct a required end-of-route check on Wednesday, Sept. 3. The sheriff's office said the child is okay.
Watch Marcus Aarsvold's full report in the video player below:
Kenn Jones, regional vice president of Johnson School Bus Service, acknowledged that multiple safety steps were skipped.
"All of those things didn't happen yesterday," he said.
When asked why the driver did not follow the required checklist, Jones said he did not know.
"I don't have the answer to that right now as to why the driver did not do the child checkmate or the search on the bus," Jones said. "Or why the manager did not walk through the lot."
Jones said the company plans to retrain drivers and has taken appropriate action. When asked whether the driver was fired, Jones declined to comment.
"I can't speak to personnel issues with individual employees," he said.
Parents in the district said the incident is part of a broader pattern of problems, including one from the first day of school. Samantha Schoep and Seth Dougherty, whose children ride the bus, said their kids were delayed one hour for drop-off and were not allowed to open windows despite the heat.
Schoep said her daughter arrived home visibly ill.
"She looked very unwell," Schoep said. "I got out of my car immediately and rushed to her. She's like, 'Mom, I don't feel good.' She was just sweat-covered, like she got out of the bath or shower. It was just terrible."
Dougherty said his daughter was also sweating and frightened.
"She was just scared," Dougherty said. "That's the first day of school; how we set the year up. We had three months to put our processes in place… and we're dropping the ball on day one. It's very concerning to see what the rest of the school year is going to look like."
When I asked Jones about the delays and heat conditions the children experienced, he said he did not know about those problems.
"I am unaware of those situations," Jones said. "And it's something I'd be happy to look into and report back to you."
Dougherty said the incidents reflect a failure to protect children.
"Someone's going to get hurt. Someone is going to get stolen or unfortunately pass away if they're left in temperatures like that or left unattended," Dougherty said. "You're neglecting these children. You're not checking in on them. We need to figure it out."
Both Schoep and Dougherty said they will now carpool and pick up their children from school themselves.
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