Authorities are investigating how a 4-year-old girl was left alone for hours on an Egg Harbor Township school bus earlier this week.
The bus driver and bus aide who were involved are no longer employed in the district, according to a statement issued Thursday by Egg Harbor Township School District Superintendent Kim Gruccio. Their names were not disclosed.
The child’s father, Miguel Lugo, told authorities that he put his daughter on the school bus at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday to go to the Bargaintown Preschool in Bargaintown, according to a township police report.
Lugo’s wife, Darielle Lugo, said her husband learned their daughter was absent after he arrived at the preschool school at 2 p.m. Tuesday to attend their daughter’s class party.
Miguel Lugo was told by school officials that his daughter never arrived at the preschool.
After he told school officials that he put his daughter on the school bus in the morning, law enforcement was contacted, and officials began looking for the child, according to the police report.
The little girl was found before 3 p.m. Tuesday sleeping in the empty school bus which had been parked on a lot at the school district’s transportation department, according to the police report. Police originally reported the bus was parked at a different location, but on Friday revised the information.
One of the drivers may have failed to properly check the bus before securing it, leaving the child by herself in the bus, according to the report.
The child was reunited with her father before 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Bargaintown Preschool and was checked by nursing staff, police said.
“Regretfully a preschool student was unintentionally left on the school bus yesterday after the morning route,” Gruccio said in a statement. “Appropriate authorities were contacted and while an investigation is ongoing, this type of mistake is unacceptable, and the bus driver and bus aide involved are no longer employed in the district.
“The district cannot comment further except to say that our hearts go out to this family, and as a district we will continue to focus on student safety remaining our number one priority.”
Darielle Lugo said Friday that her daughter, Makani, does not want to go back to the preschool. She also doesn’t want to ride the school bus, her mother said, adding the family has retained an attorney.
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Stephanie Loder may be reached at SLoder@njadvancemedia.com.
