Florida First Grader Left Miles From Home by School Bus

A school bus in Clearwater, Florida, dropped a six-year-old first-grader unaccompanied at the wrong stop on August 13, her mother said, adding that she was later found wandering miles from home. Largo resident Genevieve Sprouse posted a video to Facebook in which she explained how her daughter’s bus was 45 minutes late dropping her home. When she contacted Pinellas County School Transportation, they tracked the bus using its GPS and said her daughter would be dropped off at any moment. But, while Sprouse was on the phone, Clearwater police called to tell her that they found her daughter wandering around Clearwater – a 15-minute drive from her Largo home, according to WFLA. According to Sprouse, two adults are required to be on the bus her daughter takes and children aren’t supposed to be dropped off without a guardian present. A Pinellas County School District spokesperson confirmed the incident occurred in a statement released to local media. “Pinellas County Schools strives to provide safe transportation to students, every day. School and district transportation staff worked together to investigate the situation. In this instance, there was an oversight that has been immediately corrected," the statement said. Credit: Genevieve Sprouse via Storyful