OLYMPIA, Wash. — An incident where a preschooler was left on a school bus in Olympia last month is prompting some major changes for the district's transportation department.
The boy was supposed to get off at the first of three schools on the route, but remained in alone in the bus for more than an hour, according to the Olympian.
The small boy, who was sitting in the back, could not be seen from the front of the bus, but drivers are required to walk through the whole vehicle to check for students or items left behind.
The bus driver and monitor working the bus run that day failed to notice that he had stayed on and parked the bus at a depot, where they got off.
The boy was later found by a Washington State Patrol commercial inspector.
The Olympian reports that of the 82 of the district’s buses, only nine have alarms that will continue to sound until the driver walks to the back of the bus and pushes a button.
The district now says it will have the alarms installed on all of its buses by the end of the school year.
The driver in the incident resigned and the bus monitor was placed on leave, retrained and then allowed back to work.