PHOTO: Parents had the scare of their lives today after their young child failed to return home more than two hours after dismissal. The parents tell TLS their six-year-old child was dismissed at 2:45PM, but by 4:30PM he had still not returned home. With camp ensuring them he’d be home any minute, they waited.
But when the child failed to return by 5PM, parents feared the worst. With a lack of communication between them, the camp and the bus driver – the worried parents phoned police.
Police arrived moments later and got a description of the child and other information from the parents and left.
In the meantime, the parents were able to get a name of the bus company who had supposedly transported the young boy, and gave police the information.
About five minutes later, Officer Sean Ward located the school bus, and pulled it over. The boy – along with at least one other boy – was located on the bus.
It turns out the new bus driver was unfamiliar with the streets, but failed to notify the camp or the parents of what the delay was all about.
The parents were quite relieved to see their son emerge from the back seat of the patrol car.
Its was my nephew!!It sure was the scare of our lives b”h hes home and safe!!
I had the same thing with my son (although I did not get the police involved.) It was terrifying! Why don’t the camps have a way of contacting the drivers? My sons principal called the dispatcher, but was told we had to wait until the bus returned to the base. When the bus showed up, the driver apologized saying he was new and for some reason saved my son for the last stop.
Happened to my daughter dropped off cause she was the last one let off with the last kid ( not by my stop ) Lakewood is waiting for a lawsuit to happen c”v!!! in NY where most of us come from there was a monitor on the bus for the little kids this is crazy 5 years old going on the bus with no supervision I drove my kid the rest of the year. See they did the right thing I also called the police they where in a jiffy and the pulled the bus driver over also. No brainer but the bus drivers have to us there brains 30 min late they should call base really dumb. Bottom line bus driver needs to be fired!!!!!
Thank you Officer Sean Ward !!!
Its called the crazed scared frightened parents’ syndrom. Where all the various forums and symposiums simply increase society at large’s anxiety.
This is a usuall not uncommon experience that happens in every single school district in the United States.
No body wants this to happen to their child. Granted. But the only harm always done is only to the parent. The kids are always safe. Calm Dwon!
My son came home 90 minutes late today, too.
To #3- R U Kidding: I hate to get off topic but “NY where most of us come from”?? Comment based on your own experiences if you wish but “most” of Lakewood does not necessarily come from NY.
What a happy ending. With so many sad stories: tree falls on two children camping – 2 and 7 year old cousins; a 2 and 5 year old (brothers) drowned in their next door neighbor’s pool, glad this one turned out ok.
#6,
Repeat after me (try it slowly if you need to):
“Most Of Lakewood Comes From New York”
My kids always tell me of the bus drivers’ telephone conversations as they are driving the kids. Whom are the bus companies kidding with the line “the bus has to return to base” before clarifying where a missing child is? That is the only justification for having a telephone on board! And who wants such a young child on a bus for two hours!
#9 MOST PEOPLE MAKE STATEMENTS WITH NO FACTS
yes there are a lot of people who originanly are from NY. Yet the residents of Lakewood originate from ALL over the USA and the WORLD.
Stop being General…
I wonder what a bus driver is doing getting lost for almost 2 hours. At that point he should have called his dispatcher.
These days as a parent i would worry if my child g-d forbid did not show up past 1/2 hour from the scheduled time to be home. If the camp or school can get answers and its an hour, you call the other students parents on the bus and the school. If its an 1.5 hours than its time to call the police. Play safe than sorry.
To number 5
Have you heard of Leiby Kletzky? This week was his yarzheit. You have no right to belittle parents who are looking out for their precious child’s safety.
I think its unacceptable for a driver to have a child for Sooo long, no excuse!! He should be taken in for questioning!!
I had an issue last year after moving to a new neighborhood in Lakewood. I personally went down to the Board of Education to give them the change of address. I received post cards in the mail with the new address so clearly they changed it on their computer system. Apparently they did not give the bus driver the new address and the bus driver couldnt understand why the child was not getting off the bus in the old neighborhood. The child, who was not yet five, had no idea where his new house was. The bus driver did not think to call the school and so the school insisted that a lot of the buses were delayed due it being the first day and it was normal.
my sentiments exactly!!! what is # 6 sniffing?
very good number 9 and although some lakewooders and out of towners may be insulted these are the facts eat it
Terrible. Simply terrible. Not surprising though.
correction: comment refers to # 5
i call my kids bus company if my child is more than 10 minutes late and they usually are quite quick to let me know whats up
i cant believe this. I am shocked. My oldest child will be starting primary now and everyone around me thinks I am crazy for being so nervous regarding the bus situation. Cant get over this system. Unfortunatly, this unprofessional system/way here in lakewood is in so many other areas. Dropped of my child on the first day of camp and everyone thought I was crazy to ask around who the camp director was, what the schedule was, what my childrens names and numbers are, until what time they are there, who does the afternoon shift etc….. why is everyone so shocked. People really expect parents to just drop their cargo off and good bye???!!! how could this be an acceptable way. Same with bus. Every bus driver should have his number, name and address posted. Every parent should have it handy in their cell phone… why not do a meet and greet with ANYONE ALL YOUR CHILDREN come into contact. This is time well invested and no one should tell me they are to busy! there is no such thing!
How can anyone belittle any parent who’s nervous when their kid doesnt show up for 2 hrs after he’s supposed to be home
Why not use GPS tracking technology? There are systems out there which are fairly inexpensive and would alleviate all parents concerns by providing live location updates as well as past history. Some systems even double as a navigation system to give directions to a new driver.
The contractors would help themselves and the entire community by equipping their buses with this kind of technology.
I live in Monsey (where most Monsey residents come from Lakewood! Lol!) And we have the same issue when there is a substitue driver. This issue is not restricted to Lakewood. Your brothers up north understand your anxiety.
I would also be nervous to let my kids be one of the last bus stops. Cuz nowadays, who knows what this bus driver could do with those innocent children in the privacy of the bus… thatswhy in brooklyn most schools sent along a bus monitor for supervison, & the busdriver drives this monitor home as the last bus stop, or back to the school building. This should bcome common practice in lkwd too.
#20 – I’ve been sending to daycamps for years and never had such an experience. Directors try to be on hand for parents to meet and make sure they have everyone’s emergency information. I’ve never met a parent who thought this was silly. The busing situation is scary. Some bus drivers are great and some are plain irresponsible. When it comes to schools, playgroups and daycamps we do tons of research, but then we are just handed a bus driver.
#22 why not also use video cameras on the busses?
I would never put my child on a school bus, no matter how difficult and inconvenient it would be for me. Have you seen how buses are driven in this town? They routinely speed, run red lights, run stop signs, cut cars off. I am not judging, but how any parent in their right mind would place their childs life in the hands of these drivers is really beyond me.
Please make sure your children drink on the bus!! They sit for a long time on the boiling hot busses w/o air condition, they could get dehydrated.
“Most of Lakewood is from NY”…hence the problem. Lakewood was a much more friendlier place before this happened. Imagine this….pretty much everyone got along and was respectful of each other. It was a true melting pot back then.
there are a couple of bus companies in Lakewood that have radio’s in them one of which has GPS tracking, so if there is a problem ( lost child, parent not home, etc.) the company can talk to the driver and not wait for the bus to get back to base. All the buses should have a radio installed in them.
THANK YOU LAKEWOOD POLICE. GREAT WORK AND THANK YOU AGAIN!
We need bus monitors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ever heard of a bus monitor? they are around for a reason
baruch hashem story has a happy ending!
#5
you are dangerous! could u please leave ur name so we can all keep away from you.
my husband gets his list of names a week before school, he than spends hrs working out his run. He than makes sure to get every single childs home number so if he’s running late he can call the parent and inform them how long he’s still going to be.
#35, your husband is unique. I’ve never had a bus driver do that to me and my son has been on the bus for almost 2 hours many a time (even tho we live a 3 minute drive from his school.)
To a bus drivers wife- i can guess who you husband is and he is a true Tzaddik who takes his achrayus(responsibilty) very seriously. when he drove my daughters bus for a year it was the best experience we ever had. I wish all bus drivers would take a lesson from him but sadly there are many who dont. My best wishes to your special husband and the other drivers like him.
Bus drivers are warm, caring, respectable, and VERY responsible indivduals. From some of the comments on this forum you can be mislead to believe that bus companies hire drivers specifically on their way out of jail, or at least drivers who have a police record. Let me tell you something. That is not true. 99.9% of bus drivers dont have any violations on their licences. And I think that is better then most.
Your child is completely safe on a schoolbus in the company of his/her driver. A monitor can always assist a driver, and allow the driver to drive. Yet a school bus driver will have a far better record that is highly scrutenized then any monitor you will provide. How will you research a bus monitor?
I see that some gave much credit to the police for bringing the child home safely. Why trust a policeman more than a bus driver?
Both are highly qualified and responsible in their respective proffesions.
Dont fret, your kids are always safe on a bus.
we need new bus companies in Lakewood.
#5- Either u don’t have kids, or you are just plain CRAZY.
This story sounds extremely weird!! I’m surprised no1 suspected anything!!!!
Bus company says ‘we don’t do house stops’ – why this blanket rule if it becomes apparent that the bus rolls past the house anyway and the child is the only one at the stop? My kids each wait for their buses in the brutal sun for 10-20 minutes (when the bus is late) because they must wait at the corner, which by the way, is a 50-mph road. Why do that and not stop a few houses from the corner where the driver passes anyway?
You’re right – I might as well drive them and forget about relying on buses. The drivers are unfriendly most of the time so it’s intimidating dealing with them OR the company.
WHERE ARE THE BUS MONITORS?!?!?!? What is every school waiting for? Something should happen c”v? I live in Brooklyn where the buses generally have monitors. In fact , my daughters school was short some bus monitors so they hired some extra “morahs” , paid them a regular teacher’s salary, just to be cautious! This is not normal! Little 5-year olds on buses with who knows what kind of drivers and no supervision!?! Where is the achrayis of the schools. It’s a miracle nothing has happened until now. Hashem yishmar!
to #42 , Bus drivers are not allowed to make house stops. They are not encourage to make these kind of stop by reccomendation of B.O.E.
There a very good reason for this, don’t take it personal.
Thanks Lakewood police for being on the ball..I guess its true it takes a village to raise a child we all gotta look out for them..Its only right!!