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Connecticut Mom Panics After Son With Autism Was Taken in Wrong Direction on School Bus
A major mix up with school buses in New Britain, Connecticut, took place in the first week of the school year, which led a boy with autism to be driven an hour in the wrong direction on his way home. The situation left his mom, Somers McCray, panicking over her son’s whereabouts.
“If it wasn’t for my baby‘s phone, I wouldn’t have known where he was because they did not know where my baby was,” McCray told local outlet WFSB on Tuesday, September 2.
She explained that her son, Courtney, got out of school at 2:45 p.m. on August 29. After she noticed that he was more than an hour late to arrive home, McCray began to worry about her son.
“He’s saying he’s in the car and saying he’s on his way but he’s not here. Like what is taking her so long where is her location,” she recalled.
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McCray tried to get answers by calling the bus company, First Student, who told her that the GPS tracking on the bus wasn’t working. After she hit a dead end, McCray took matters into her own hands to find Courtney.
“My son has an iPhone so I did the iPhone locator and that’s how I found out he was in Danbury,” she explained.
McCray got police involved and a plan was created to meet Courtney at a 7-Eleven in Southington, Connecticut.
“Courtney isn’t one of those kids who looks out the window and pays attention. He’s always looking down or looking into something because he always has to keep his mind going and distracted,” she explained.
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McCray also shared a status on Facebook about what was going out, and she discovered that several other people were having similar issues.
“Everyone is saying how their kids got home at 7 o’clock at night our house. Some of their kids were just didn’t get picked up from school and something didn’t get picked up to go to school in the morning,” she said. “This is a real disturbance to parents and kids at the end of the day.”
Following the incident, First Student issued a statement saying they were taking steps to fix the problems created last week. “First Student is committed to taking corrective action to stabilize operations and deliver consistent, dependable service. Like many transportation providers, we are experiencing challenges with timely bus deliveries and driver availability. Building a reliable team of trained drivers and ensuring that vehicles are ready for service requires careful hiring, training and preparation, and we are working diligently to strengthen both areas,” the statement read. “Despite these constraints, we have taken several steps to strengthen service in the interim.”
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The New Britain school district also sent out a statement confirming that different transportation is now being provided for Courtney, while Chair of the New Britain Board of Education Barbara Marino called the ongoing bus issues unacceptable.
However, McCray argued that the school’s actions are not enough, especially for students with special needs. “He just wanted to take a picture of the van that he was in. He called me to make sure he was at school. He called me when he got on the bus and then he called me when he got home. He was so frightened,” she said.
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