Florida mom concerned after sons dropped off at wrong bus stop - a mile away
Boy exit school bus at wrong stop, get lost
Parents panicked when two young kids could not find their home after they got off at the wrong bus stop after school. Now they're looking for answers from the school district, trying to figure out how it happened. It was just the third day of school in Lake County and a brand-new bus stop for a 6 and 10-year-old.
ORLANDO, Fla. - A Florida mom feared the worst after her two sons got off the bus at the wrong stop – about a mile away – and were driven home by a stranger, the mom told FOX 35 News on Tuesday. That mom is now looking for answers from the district to understand how it happened.
"The world is so scary now," said Krystin Grimes, the boys' mother, in a Zoom interview with FOX 35. "There’s no telling who could have snatched them."
She acknowledges that it was the third day of school for Lake County Schools, and a brand-new bus stop for her two sons – a six-year-old and a 10-year-old. She was out of town, but the boys were being watched by their grandma.
"I realized there was a problem when the boys didn’t get off the bus at the bus stop," said the boys' grandma, Angie Harvey.
It turns out the boys got off their bus just over a mile away from where they were supposed to – at a different stop. Making matters worse, the family is new to that part of Lake County.
"I think they were scared because they knew they were lost, and they didn’t know how to get home," Harvey said.
Wandering around the strange neighborhood, the brothers stopped a man and asked for help.
"These two little guys come walking down the road and asked me if they could use my phone," said Michael James, a registered nurse who was outside his home and was concerned seeing the two kids walking down a busy road in the heat by themselves.
"My brain immediately goes to how many kids were walking down the side of the road today, because they got off on the wrong stop," James said.
About a half hour later, James decided to drive the boys home.
The boys' mother said she called the school, but hadn't received a response.
"I still have not heard from the school," Grimes said. "I’ve called twice today and left different messages for the principal."
The Lake County School District told FOX 35 that bus drivers are supposed to know which bus stops students are supposed to be dropped off at, and have a list to follow. A spokesperson for the district said the drivers are still getting to know the riders and their lists aren't final.
"If they can’t have that together, then I don’t think that they’re qualified to work for a school," Grimes said.