Kyle Geissler talks with Janesville Gazette reporter Shelly Birkelo about a 5-year-old Janesville girl dropped at the wrong bus stop.
Gracie Ford, 5, with her parents Michael and Jessica on Wednesday. Gracie was dropped off at the wrong bus stop after her first day at kindergarten at Jackson Elementary in Janesville.
Gracie Ford was excited about her first day of school and getting to ride the school bus like a big girl.
But what was supposed to have been one of life's most memorable events turned into a traumatic experience for her, her family and school officials on Tuesday.
Gracie, 5, was dropped off at Jackson Elementary School for her first day of kindergarten by her father and stepmother, Mike and Jessica Ford. At the end of her school day, she was to ride the bus home.
Somehow, Gracie boarded the wrong bus and was dropped off at a trailer park miles from her home.
Kelly Dewberry, a friend of Gracie's birth mother, Crystal Brown, lives in Rockvale Mobile Home Park and found Gracie.
"She was in tears and bawling," her father said.
Meanwhile, Jessica was in the family's subdivision waiting for Gracie. When she didn't get off the bus, Jessica panicked.
Jessica called Jackson School. Her phone call was routed to the Janesville School District's office. From there she was directed to Van Galder Bus Co., got a voice mail so left a message.
As soon as Dewberry called Brown to let her know she found Gracie and that she was safe, Brown called Jessica to let her know Gracie had been found.
"That five minutes was pretty devastating," Brown said. "If Kelly hadn't been there, who knows what would have happened.''
Steve Eichman, transportation manager for the school district, called Jessica back at 4:30 p.m. to apologize.
"He wasn't making any excuses. He had talked to the principal and secretary at Jackson School and they thought she (Gracie) was in the right line. He assured me that this wasn't going to happen again and said school officials had already started looking at next year and how they could change things for kindergartners and first-time riders,'' Jessica said.
Schools Superintendent Tom Evert said this morning that everyone involved is distressed.
"It's a very frightening situation. We're just grateful it had a good outcome," Evert said. "We certainly apologize to the parents for the terror they must have felt. ... We have to make sure it doesn't happen to any other student."
Gracie doesn't want to go back to school or ride the school bus again, her father said.
"It's scary to be dropped off in some place you don't know. I'm upset because I feel like they took one of her childhood memories of starting school away. I'm truly sickened this could happen. I'm not sure who is at fault, but I will say the school system and bus system failed her and did not do their job of making sure my child was safe. They put my child in danger,'' Mike said.
Gracie's parents want to meet with school officials today, and Jackson Principal John Walczak said he welcomed a meeting.
School officials said this morning that procedures were followed, and they aren't sure how the mix-up happened.
Students who take buses are lined up in Jackson's multipurpose room at the end of the school day, one line for each bus, officials said. Bus drivers come into the school and lead the children to their buses.
Officials say they're sure Gracie was in the correct line at the outset.
"And given it's the first day—and this is not an excuse by any stretch—she got in the wrong line and ended up on the wrong bus," Eichman said.
Eichman said this has never happened in the seven years he has been on the job.
"We're going to learn from this error," Eichman vowed.
"There is absolutely no excuse on our end for what happened," said Jackson Principal John Walczak. "We will make sure this doesn't happen again."
"We found a hole here in our procedures, and that is definitely is going to be taken care of," Walczak said.
Among the fixes: double-checking that each child is in the right line, and then making sure the lines don't get so close as they march out, Walczak said.
Van Galder's school bus manager, Nancy Sonntag, said the company also is reviewing procedures.