Two elementary students were left on a USD 489 school bus Monday morning.  Russ Henningsen, USD 489 Transportation Director, told Hays Post that to his

knowledge nothing like this has ever happened before.

“The bus came back to our bus yard yesterday morning.  The route driver did not follow policy: it’s a policy to walk through the bus to make sure all kids are off the bus.  He did not follow that policy and there were two kids on the bus, it was their first day on the bus.”

Henningsen said that another route driver found the children, helped them off the bus, and took them to school at Washington Elementary.  He estimates that the children were left on the bus no more than 10 minutes.

He added that the bus driver has been terminated for not following policy.  The driver had been with the district for a few years.

All drivers have been retrained on the policies regarding safe transportation of children.  Henningsen declined to release the name of the bus driver.