‘Make it make sense’: Parents frightened after school bus drops kids off on side of Ritchie Highway
By David Collins
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GLEN BURNIE, Maryland (WBAL) — Some Severna Park parents said they were frightened after their children were dropped off by a school bus on busy Ritchie Highway.
The students were supposed to be dropped off at a nearby aftercare center. The school system said the issue has been resolved and no one was hurt.
Students were dropped off in an area with a 50-mph speed limit and had to run by two ponds and through a busy parking lot to get to the center.
Lauren Lathrop’s daughter spoke up about the unattended drop-off.
“(They) told the bus driver, ‘Hey, this isn’t where we are usually dropped off,'” Lathrop said. “The bus driver says, ‘No, this is the stop.’ She says, ‘But there are a lot of cars, I don’t feel safe.’ And, the bus driver proceeded to tell her to get off the bus.”
“It was a lot of shock,” said Kati Brown, a parent whose son recognized the danger and practiced what he was taught. “He knows when you are in a parking lot, he has to hold hands before going across the street or going in any parking lot. He said, ‘Mom, we ran so that we could get to the sidewalk as quickly as we could, because we knew it wasn’t safe.'”
Parents were told the bus company needed permission to drop off the students at the aftercare door.
“My son went there all of last year, and so they have always been dropped off at the front door of the aftercare,” Brown said. “So, that was our expectation, and that was the aftercare’s expectation.”
“Please make it make sense that a grown woman is told by a 6-year-old that they feel unsafe, and they still proceed to kick them off the bus and put them in a potentially extremely dangerous situation. It just blows my mind,” Lathrop said.
Anne Arundel County Public Schools officials said the problem is resolved. On Thursday, the school’s principal rode the bus to make sure the proper drop-off was made.
“There was a change in the bus contractors from this year to last year,” said Bob Mosier, a spokesman for Anne Arundel County schools. “We have spoken to that bus contractor now. That situation has been rectified, and those students are being dropped off at their aftercare center.”
Parents expressed concern that the bus driver will still be on the route. They want school officials to review their drop-off policies and put their plan going forward in writing.
The aftercare center owner said they were unaware of the drop-off error, and that an employee helped the kids to safety. If needed, the center can provide a van to get the students, the owner said.
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