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9-year-old left in back of school bus
By MEGAN SCOTT PALM HARBOR -- Nine-year-old Jezreel Saunders slept through it all: the frequent stops the bus makes on its 45-minute journey to school and the commotion from his classmates. In fact, the fourth-grader slept so hard he didn't wake up when the bus arrived at Sutherland Elementary School to drop off the students Friday morning. Instead, Jezreel finally woke up and he discovered he was alone on the bus. It was parked outside a Palm Harbor Albertsons grocery store on U.S. 19 N. He went inside the store and called his mother. "I just thank God that he was smart enough to go inside the store," said Jezreel's mother, Angela Saunders, 30. "Because a 9-year-old in a neighborhood he's not familiar with -- anything could happen." Pinellas County school transportation officials are reviewing the incident and plan to discipline the substitute bus driver, John Miccio, 53, for not checking each seat on the bus after he dropped off the children. Miccio told officials that he parked the bus at Albertsons so he could go inside and use the restroom. Miccio did not return a call for comment, but school district spokesman Ron Stone said the driver was questioned by officials on Friday and will be suspended until the investigation is complete. "This is a very serious offense as far as we're concerned," said Stone. "The driver is supposed to walk to the back of the bus to check for damage to the bus and, of course, for situations like this. Apparently that wasn't done before the driver left the school." Miccio has driven for the school district since August 2001, Stone said, and had driven that route for five days. He had not been disciplined previously. Friday's incident was the second time in recent weeks in which a bus driver's actions have been called into question. A 71-year-old driver resigned last month after he let two Largo elementary students off 2 miles from their home in September. Administrators had recommended that former relief school bus driver Ernie Croley be fired because it was the second time he had dropped students at the wrong stop and the third time he had violated procedure. While relieved that their son was okay, Michael and Angela Saunders say they are furious about the way the school handled the incident. "No one has called me to assure me that they are taking care of the situation," said Angela Saunders. "The school is acting like my child fell and scraped a knee." Jezreel's parents kept him home from school Friday and said he won't be riding the bus again any time soon. They said the driver should be suspended and a notation made in his personnel file. "They neglected my child," said Angela Saunders. "He was inside the bus, the windows up and the door shut. I just thank God my baby's okay." Jezreel said Albertsons did a good job taking care of him. He watched the movie Spider-Man and munched on cookies while he waited for his parents to arrive. Jezreel said he normally dozes on the bus, more so in the afternoon. But Friday morning he was just really tired. He curled up in the last seat and drifted off to sleep. "When I woke up I was at Albertsons," said Jezreel. "I was like, how did I get here?" -- Megan Scott can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or mscott@sptimes.co .
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
