A New Orleans mother says it was the longest 40 minutes of her life when her 7-year-old son didn’t come home from school.
Antonia Lacy says she was waiting at her son’s bus stop at Gravier and South Broad last week when the bus arrived — without him.
“I need help finding my son,” Lacy said in a frantic video posted on social media. “His bus driver let him off on the wrong bus.”
When she couldn’t find him, Lacy says she called the school, then the police, and finally took to social media, pleading for help.
“I know he’s scared. I’m scared. Where is my baby?” she said in the video, crying.
Lacy says she believes the school recently implemented a new bus transfer system, where students switch buses mid-route. That is what Lacy heard, but WDSU is still working to confirm that. During that process, she says her son fell asleep on the bus.
“He was laying down. They didn’t see him,” she said. “After they cleared the bus, nobody walked through to see if a child was left behind.”
When staff finally found him, Lacy says he was still asleep in his seat — unaware of the panic unfolding.
“He told me, ‘Mommy, it’s OK, I was asleep. Don’t cry.’ But what he doesn’t understand is he’s all I have,” she said.
Lacy says the outpouring of support from the community was overwhelming, with people of all backgrounds joining the search.
However, she also says the incident should never have happened and believes drivers should be required to double-check buses after each route.
“It was moreso the bus driver’s fault,” she said. “I feel like that should be standard protocol.”
WDSU reached out to the bus company to ask how this happened, whether the driver followed protocol, and if new safeguards will be put in place. So far, we have not received answers.
In a statement from a school spokesperson, the school said that starting next week, parents will be able to track their children in real time. Officials also said protocols worked in this case because the bus driver did check the bus, and that’s how the child was found safe. They say that at no time was the student in danger.
The school spokesperson says they are investigating whether or not a school bus transfer occurred in this incident.
READ MORE:New Orleans mother describes frantic search for son who was left on school bus
