Let me start with some background information first. Kieren and Cullen go to a Christian school in another city. By car, it takes me about 20 minutes to drive there. Because the school is in the same county as our home, the local school districts (yes, more than one) are required by law to bus the kids to school. It can take up to 90 minutes and three buses for the kids to get from our house to school. It can take the same amount of time, but only two buses to get them home. Kieren is quite good at the whole "bus-thing". This is her second year doing this (and Cullen's seventh). Kieren has ridden the whole route without Cullen countless times with no problem.
Yesterday afternoon Cullen called me before lunch to tell me he had an unexpected Drama Club meeting. He had to stay for an unexpected Drumline meeting the day before so I told him to let the office notify Kieren that he would not be on the bus with her (just like the day before). No problem. Cullen went to his meeting and his dad picked him up at 4:15pm (on his way home from work) just like the day before. I had given the guys a short grocery list so they stopped at the store 5 minutes from the school.
At 4:00pm, I opened our front door so I could listen for the school bus and Kieren as I worked on dinner. At 4:15pm, I kept checking the street. Sometimes Kieren's bus doesn't get here until 4:30pm. It really irritates us because it is some stupid little scheme of the transportation board to file for more gas-mileage. Don't ask! It ticks me off!
Anyway, at 4:30pm I turned off the stove and stood at the end of the driveway waiting. I called Cullen's cell phone and asked him to call a couple of the kids who ride the bus and see what was taking so long. None of the kids he talked to rode that day. When 4:40pm rolled around with no bus, I called the transportation department to see what the problem was. I got an answering machine (it said they were closed and to call in the morning) and left a message. When it was 4:50pm, I called the school board's office, they were gone for the day! During this mess, I was getting more angry and worried by the minute! ECA (the kids' school) turns off the phones at 4:30pm so I knew it was useless to call there. After several calls to Heather, Andy, and Cullen, we decided we needed more help.
At 5pm, I called the sheriff's department to report a missing child. There isn't anything harder to do than to make that call and say those words. At first, they didn't get it until I told them that Kieren is 6-years-old. Then they took this seriously. I answered their questions. I offered information. I answered more questions. They said they would call me back in a few minutes, after they contacted the bus garage. In the meantime, Heather headed for the bus garage (Thank you, Heather!). Andy and Cullen got home and left again to trace the bus route back to the school and transfer point.
Heather found the Transportation Superintendent still at the bus garage. She says she never got a message from me (Funny how she never gets my phone messages! I guess her answering machine just doesn't like me. This has happened for years!). Heather said she was very defensive and rude. Yep, she is a witch (not my word of choice)! Finally she got off her butt (before Heather ripped out her hair or fingernails) and searched the bus, called the bus driver, and talked to the sheriff's department. The bus driver (we love Nancy and she adores my kids) said Kieren never got off the first bus and onto hers. Nancy was freaked out too! Heather kept calling me and updating me between my calls to Cullen and the sheriff's office. Kieren was officially a missing child.
To shorten this a bit, two school districts and superintendents later, no one knew where Kieren was. It was now 5:15pm. Kieren got out of school at 3pm. No one had seen her or claimed to know what was going on. I had no way to contact anyone at ECA. All the numbers we had were friends and teachers who weren't answering. I was alone at the house and panicked. Another call came from the sheriff's department asking me what Kieren was wearing (plaid skirt, white blouse, black/white tie-die leggings, white t-shirt with a panda on it, hot pink tennis shoes, hot pink fleece jacket, and her hot pink Bobby Jack backpack), did she have any medical conditions (Yes, but she was fine unless she took an impact to her stomach.), and what did she look like. Luckily, Kieren had attended Safety City this August. They had her photo, thumb print, and stats on file.
I hope no one reading this ever has to go through this! You can't breathe, you can't think, you can't focus, you can't help thinking "OMG, what if...?". Your doctor will want to throw you into the hospital if he checks your blood-pressure!
Finally the dispatcher calls me again. A deputy is at ECA and has Kieren. I give them a description of Andy's car and tell Andy (who is 15 minutes away) to go get her. He gets to the school, shows the deputy his ID, and gets Kieren. She is fine, but not real happy. Andy and Cullen get the story and bring her home while I make about 50 phone calls.
We are so mad at the school. "Someone" (substitute teacher) wrote down that Kieren was a car-rider (despite the fact the office told her bus-rider and it was written down on her list). So instead of putting Kieren on the bus, she put Kieren in the car-rider group. When Kieren was still waiting for a ride home at 3:15pm, they sent her to after-care (Lion's Den) to wait for her ride. Now, don't you think it would have made sense to call her parents when it was 4pm and she was still there with no phone calls made to the school?!?!?! How about 4:30pm? Or 5pm??? But no. That's not in their procedure! Eventhough we never signed a permission form for her to be at Lion's Den! It was after 5:30pm when Andy got there and they weren't concerned. OMG!!!!!! We will be making sure that will NEVER happen to anyone again!
Yes, we know that we should be thankful for the outcome, and we are. BUT it should never have happened in the first place! IF the school had someone answering the phones until ALL the kids went home, we could have stopped this at 4:40pm. IF there were better procedures in place to follow-up with late parents of car-riders, this would have ended at 3:30 or 4pm. IF Kieren had not been sent to the wrong location because someone mixed up the information, this would have NEVER happened!
Kieren is physically fine. Emotionally, not quite. She said she was not going to ride the bus again. I had Cullen get her from her class today, walk her to the bus and sit with her all the way home. I knew she needed to ride the bus today to work through the fear. Kieren's trust has been shaken. She wouldn't let us cuddle her at all yesterday or touch her hands (a thing she did since she was a baby in China if she doesn't trust you). She layed on the couch yesterday evening and cried, but wouldn't let us touch her. I am so pissed about this!!! When I said something to the substitute teacher her response was "oh she's perfectly fine in class today"! How the hell would she know!!! She doesn't know my child! What makes her an expert on my child or adoption issues?!?!?! She only met her yesterday! This evening Kieren is a bit better, but I'm keeping her with me at all times. We are going to have to work through some things. Nancy (the bus driver) gave Cullen her cell number today. He is to text her to let her know if Kieren is riding alone or if they will not be on the bus. She's a wonderful person!
More stupid point-the-finger crap happened since yesterday, but I'm just too tired to type it. Let's just say that we are pissed. We will be making sure changes are made.