MN - Champlin girl missing for hours after school bus driver gets lost

[GuyfromCanada]

A school bus that left Noble Elementary School in Brooklyn Park with young students on-board went missing for hours Tuesday evening.

"We were wondering, was she abducted?" said Rene Harrer, whose granddaughter was on that bus. "We're just assuming she is dropped off at some other city wandering around, wondering where she is at."

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Wow, the bus company was uncooperative with police...

 

[human]

A school bus that left Noble Elementary School in Brooklyn Park with young students on-board went missing for hours Tuesday evening.

"We were wondering, was she abducted?" said Rene Harrer, whose granddaughter was on that bus. "We're just assuming she is dropped off at some other city wandering around, wondering where she is at."

More at Champlin girl missing for hours after school bus driver gets lost

Wow, the bus company was uncooperative with police...

Privatization, Probably poorly trained. No GPS onboard? Wow

 

[Eloise]

This would be somewhat forgivable if the company had cooperated with police. To lie about the location is just ... I can't even. I don't know how it works in the US but can the school or school district change transport providers? I'd be agitating for that very strongly if I was a parent.

 

[human]

This would be somewhat forgivable if the company had cooperated with police. To lie about the location is just ... I can't even. I don't know how it works in the US but can the school or school district change transport providers? I'd be agitating for that very strongly if I was a parent.

I imagine there is a contract. I wonder if there would be a violation of the contract so they can ditch them.

It’s not as if there are school buses everywhere though. They may be the only choice.

School districts used to have their own drivers. Then to save money, they went to private companies.

 

[LadyL]

like couldn't they be charged with something for not co-operating?
they knew where those kids were and yet refused to reveal that info ... I mean, essentially, that's kidnapping

 

[human]

like couldn't they be charged with something for not co-operating?
they knew where those kids were and yet refused to reveal that info ... I mean, essentially, that's kidnapping

Interesting idea. Why do you suppose they would not cooperate? Bizarre

 

[TGIRecovered]

This is ridiculous. Why would police take the bus company’s word for it that the driver was simply lost or delayed? He could have been doing drugs, selling drugs, getting a thrill out of scaring the kids or worse! Just because that grandparent is being told that their grandchild was checked out and unhurt doesn’t mean nothing bad happened. Unless the poor little kids were drugged, they would have been hungry, very thirsty, needing to pee and terrified at the very least!
I am disgusted by people who think that they are above the law. The bus company and the driver conspired to hide the whereabouts of those children from police and parents. That is kidnapping.
If the school district or even a parent puts one more child on a bus with that driver, they are crazy.
Can you imagine being a child who went through this and ever riding a school bus again without being afraid they won’t make it to school or home?

 

[JudgeJoe]

This needs to be in media all over the place. Enough outrage will produce results.

This happened to me when my daughter was in middle school. I didn’t know where she was for SIX HOURS after school was dismissed. The school & transportation dispatch line were closed- with kids still out. Her cell phone was dead. I called LE to report & just sat frantic with the what-ifs. I called every parent I could think of who either had a kid on that route or knew someone with a kid on that route. I passed on info to LE- who made it home, who was also missing. Turned out, a sub driver got very lost. Began dropping kids off in random order. To make matters worse, my daughter’s stop was last. And further delayed because of parents giving the driver a piece-of-their-what-for at EVERY late stop. Which delayed things further. I was terrified & furious. The school board, school, transportation department & lawmakers ALL heard from me. Schools have automated call systems to notify of storms, late starts, school incidents, etc. THEY CAN’T USE THAT SYSTEM TO NOTIFY PARENTS IN EXTREME TRANSPORTATION DELAYS?!!!

SIX HOURS I searched, sat, called, waited. Terrified.

 

[GuyfromCanada]

The school bus company that refused to cooperate with investigators after a bus with elementary school students disappeared for several hours earlier this month has a troubling safety record that includes untrained drivers and dozens of failed inspections, according to records obtained by 5 INVESTIGATES.

More at School bus that went missing for hours owned by company with alarming safety record