It's a mother's worst nightmare: You think your kindergartner is in class, and hours later the school says he never showed up. It happened to one Wahpeton mother, who's son was left on the school bus, alone.
For Hope Zephier, a mother of two, her main responsibility is her children. When Zephier dropped her 6-year-old son off at the bus stop, she put the safety of her child in the hands of the school.
"I put him on a bus at 8:45," says Zephier. So when she got a call from the boy's class saying he never showed up, she panicked. "It scared me so much and tore my heart to two," says Zephier.
She was also upset once she found out where he was. "They found him on bus sleeping and didn't find him 'til 10:30 a.m." says Zephier.
Thankfully, Hope's son was found safe and okay, but she knows it could have been a lot worse. That's why she wants to know how something like this happen.
"It's our responsibility. It happened and fortunately the building was heated. But it doesn't minimize the seriousness it could've been," says Rick Jacobson, Wahpeton Superintendent. Jacobson says there's no excuse that a kid was left on the bus unattended.
"I spoke with the driver and he says he checked the rows," says Jacobson. Now, all bus drivers will be told once again to make sure they check every aisle closely, before pulling into the bus shop.
"It better not happen again. It's a good lesson for any school district." For Hope Zephier, she can only hope no other child will be left on a school bus like her son was. "He could've been woken up, frozen," says Zephier.
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