The Manteca Unified School District says they’re investigating what happened on a bus route that never made its designated stops.
Parents told KTLA sister station KTXL in Sacramento that they grew concerned when the bus hadn’t arrived by 3:45 p.m. Thursday. By 4 p.m., they were scared and began calling the school asking where their kids were.
“I was concerned. I was worried,” said parent Leticia Maravilla.
Families said they were given the run around before finally being told they could pick up their kids from school.
“I pulled up and I seen my daughter. And she was just crying her eyes out like hysterically crying, and I see all the parents and they’re very upset,” Maravilla said. “There’s a kid on the bus and the bus driver had the doors closed and she wouldn’t let him off the bus.”
The school district said according to the bus driver, student behavior on the bus was interfering with bus safety. So, the driver turned back to the school for students to be transferred to another bus or picked up.
But several parents said the bus never making it to their stop is not the only thing that made them angry. They said it was her behavior that had them upset.
“Our kids are calling, crying. She’s screaming in the background at them,” said parent Heather Jacobs. “We went to confront her and she was just snooty like she didn’t do anything wrong.”
The district said what happened Thursday on the bus route is not normal procedure and they have placed the bus driver on administrative leave pending an investigation.
“I do not want her to be a bus driver anymore. They said she was going to be transferred to a different route, but she obviously cannot handle it,” Maravilla said. “I do not want her working or driving my kid nor any other kid.”
Some parents said it’s the last bus ride their kids will take.
“A lot of the bus drivers here are great. I’ve worked with plenty of them, and I do feel comfortable putting him back on the bus but am I going to? No,” Jacobs said.