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Suburban Beckham Transit in Harvey didn't look too great when a 4-year-old fell asleep on the bus and was locked inside the company's bus yard, but it now it seems there's a negligence epidemic. The most recent incident involves the company, another 4-year-old and a driver who thought it would be fine to leave the kid locked out of his house on a stoop in the rain.
Monitors, who were on the bus in both cases, are supposed to walk children to the door. Clearly, in both cases, they didn't, and parents are starting to wonder if the bus company will get its shit together. The mother in the most recent case charged that the company hasn't even contacted her, saying, "They're acting like it's no big deal to leave a 4-year-old out in the rain."
While this isn't as great of a quote as the time we heard a guy lamenting the loss of compassionate CTA bus drivers ("Ya'll'd see grandma out in the rain and just drive on by"), we still think she's got a point. If the bus company employs monitors so they can make sure children, especially ones as young as these, are safe and get to their destinations, then we think the least they could do in this case is apologize or make some move to rectify the problem.
In some cases like these, police have even charged drivers with abandonment. To some that may seem a bit much, but — and not to sound hokey — thank any gods you want that these kids are okay.
Image via the George Eastman House website.
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You should've shown the 'lil boy's picture.
He's so adorable it's not even funny. I can't imagine any lad or lass outside by themselves at that age with no supervision. It's truly frightening. Especially in Harvey.
So where was this parent who's all upset that her kid got left in the rain? Why wasn't she there to meet the bus? Why was the kid locked out?
Yeah, the bus driver shouldn't have abandoned the kid, but what if the parents of all the kids were as remiss as this one?
JimW, if you follow the link and read the article, the woman was running errands, realized she wouldn't be home in time, dashed to the school, and just missed him leaving. She then went thru a whole crazy fire drill trying to find out where he was.
I initially had the same thought as you, until I read the article, and I was sort of sympathetic. Until I read it was the second time she'd done that. Dumbass. Having said that, any parent can get stuck in traffic, lose track of time, or delayed at an appointment, just once, and the thought that people are being PAID to make sure their kids are okay and then not doing the job is bothersome.
K - You're right, it certainly can happen. I've just grown tired over the years of parents who seem to hold everyone except themselves accountable for the wellbeing of their children and jumped to the conclusion that this was another of those cases.