CMS parent claims child was removed from school bus because it was overcrowded

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - A Charlotte dad wants answers after he says his eight-year-old was kicked off a bus Thursday morning, missing the day from school. The school district reportedly told him the bus was overcrowded.

The man tells WBTV he dropped off his stepson at the bus stop, watched him get on the bus and saw the doors close before driving off. The parent was surprised when the student popped up at home less than 30 minutes after getting on the bus.

“No child should be left at a bus stop by themselves or with even other children, I don’t care how old the child is,” said Zachary McLean.

McLean is frustrated after he says his eight-year-old stepson was removed from a school bus Wednesday morning and wound up at home.

McLean said, “our 8-year-old son walks back through the door and we’re like how did you get home and why are you home? we thought you already made it to school and he said I got kicked off the bus because there’s too many kids.”

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After the incident, a neighbor picked up the student and dropped him off at home.

McLean said, “so now we’re pretty upset trying to figure out how does this happen, how did our son get off the bus and I’m not comfortable with leaving him at the stop alone at all.”

McLean tells WBTV he called the school and transportation office and found out a substitute bus driver had to pick up from two routes this morning, leading to the bus being overcrowded.

“We heard from the Hopewell district department from different, an assistant and a supervisor I think if that’s what he was that that’s policy, the policy is to, when there’s too many kids on the bus, remove the kids off that bus, abandon them at the bus stop then they have to wait until another bus arrives and I don’t think that’s safe at all for an elementary school kid,” said McLean

The parent fears anything could have happened to his son this morning when he was placed off the bus.

“From now on I definitely will be driving my kid off at school because if that’s a policy and you have a shortage of bus drivers, you don’t know who or what can happen to your child in the midst of the 5 minutes or the 10 minutes that they’re waiting,” said McLean.

McLean believes CMS should be more transparent when there’s a substitute bus driver and when the routes are experiencing overcrowding so parents can adjust.

WBTV reached out to CMS and received the following statement:

“If a bus is overcrowded, our policy is that the bus is to remain onsite until a relief bus arrives to pick up impacted students. We are currently investigating the details surrounding today’s bus stop incident. We will review it against our current procedures and adjust as necessary to ensure this does not occur again.”

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