Florida district remains silent despite bus safety incidents reported by parents 

Despite multiple reports involving school bus safety, a large Florida school district has yet to respond to a family’s concerns about two incidents involving their children.

“I think there’s something seriously wrong with how they’re addressing a very reportable situation,” said Port St. Lucie parent Justin DeMond, as reported by the local CBS affiliate.

DeMond’s 9-year-old daughter, Naomi, was riding home Sept. 23 on the bus when it veered off the road and into a ditch, the family said.

“The parents say Naomi hit her head on a window during the incident, leaving her with a bump and bruise above her eye,” the news outlet wrote.

A separate incident occurred Oct. 6, when both of the DeMonds’ daughters were riding home amid heavy rain and flooding.

Students were kept on the bus for hours even after it became stranded, according to the couple.

“The kids were screaming, ‘That’s my dad,'” said Cynthia DeMond, describing how Justin waded through floodwaters to reach the bus. “There were other kids on the bus chanting, ‘Let us out,’ jumping out of the back door of the bus when all of this was happening.”

However, Justin said the bus driver refused to let the students off and confronted him.

“As I open the door, he throws a kick through the door and tries to kick me in the chest,” he explained. “There were kids going crazy, jumping around. It was not even safe. They were terrified.”

After repeatedly calling and emailing district officials, the DeMonds say they have still received no response.

“We have no answers to anything,” Cynthia told journalists last week. “Not one person has called us back. Not one person has given us an answer.”

The district in southeastern Florida enrolls more than 49,000 students across 56 schools. It increased security during this year’s graduation, according to the local ABC affiliate.

“It’s not a safe situation,” Cynthia concluded. “We don’t feel comfortable, and our children definitely don’t feel comfortable being on the bus. So we are just looking for answers.”

‘Unresponsive and lifeless’

Bus safety is an issue in other communities.

A tragic incident involving a school bus occurred in Cincinnati last month after a 7-year-old student with special needs died in her wheelchair during a routine bus ride home.

The girl, Ngone Talla, had been attending Cincinnati Public Schools’ Roselawn Condon School.

“We went on the bus, and I see my sister unresponsive and lifeless,” said 12-year-old Marema Talla, Ngone’s sister. “So, I’m there, I’m mad. I’m yelling in the bus. I’m like, OK, how did this happen?”

Bus safety analysts questioned how the bus driver and aide failed to notice any issues with the girl before stopping outside her house.

“Drivers need to be trained that in life-and-death situations, they need to act quickly; they need to know specifically what to do,” Ken Trump with the National School Safety and Security Services told Sinclair’s WKRC, the local CBS affiliate.

“One of the reasons that we have aides on (buses) specifically for children with special needs is to make sure they have that active supervision, eyes on the kids so that they can intervene, act, request assistance, and take some type of action.”