2 special needs students abandoned on school bus in Tooele

TOOELE — Two elementary school students with special needs were left alone on a school bus after a substitute driver failed to complete required procedures, according to the Tooele County School District.

The incident happened on Aug. 24, just days into the new school year, and has prompted calls from one family for new statewide school bus safety requirements.

Travis and Alaina Prawitt said they helped their 7-year-old son, Winston, onto his school bus that morning, expecting him to be transported to Middle Canyon Elementary School. However, Winston and another student never arrived at school.

"We confirmed with Middle Canyon Elementary (that) Winston was not there. The bus had not shown up," Travis Prawitt said.

The couple said they realized something was wrong while dropping off their younger child at kindergarten. As their concern grew, they began contacting school officials to find out where the bus was.

According to the family, Winston and another student were found approximately five miles away at the Tooele County School District transportation yard where the bus had returned.

"Found two boys abandoned on a hot school bus, parked in direct sunlight," Travis Prawitt said.

The district confirmed the students were left unattended on the bus for about 10 minutes.

In a statement to KSL, Tooele County School District spokesperson Brett Valdez said a substitute driver on a special education route "did not follow required transportation procedures, resulting in two students not being dropped off at their schools and instead returning to the bus garage."

The district said transportation staff immediately responded after being notified that one of the students had not arrived at school. The students were quickly located and transported to their schools.

While reviewing video footage from the bus, Travis Prawitt said he saw both children in distress.

"I did see both of those boys screaming, crying, pounding on windows (and) pounding on doors," he said.

While the district has not publicly detailed exactly how the mistake occurred, Alaina Prawitt believes the substitute driver may have completed only part of the assigned route.

According to Alaina Prawitt, her son was picked up on a special education route that included multiple school stops.

"How I perceive what happened is the bus driver did his normal pick-up route," Alaina Prawitt said. "They have a main stop at one school, and then my son is a separate stop all by himself. ... So what I perceive happened is either this bus driver was never communicated there was more than one stop on his route or simply didn't care or forgot. Who knows."

Alaina Prawitt said the bus eventually returned to the district transportation yard without Winston and another student ever being dropped off.

"Long story short, (the driver) made it back to the bus yard and got off that bus," she said.

Prawitt said the situation could have become much more serious had the family not quickly realized their son never arrived at school.

"It could've been a different outcome if we didn't notice within those first 10 minutes," she said.

The district said the substitute driver failed to complete the required bus-clearing procedure before leaving the vehicle. The driver, who had previous school bus driving experience but was substituting on that route, has since been terminated.

The Prawitts believe multiple safety failures contributed to the incident, including the absence of a student aide for special education students and the driver's failure to walk the bus before exiting.

"If it was an hour, 95-degree day, it could've gotten up to 130 to 140 degrees on that bus," said Alaina Prawitt. "We're safe, but I can't help but think, what if it happens to another kid?"

Now, the Prawitts are advocating for stronger safety requirements on school buses across Utah. They are proposing what they are calling "Winston's Law," legislation that would require additional technology on school buses to help ensure children cannot be accidentally left behind.

"We would like Winston's Law to become an idea," Travis Prawitt said. "To make sure additional safety equipment is provided to every single school bus in the state of Utah to make sure this cannot happen again."

The family points to child-check systems already installed on some newer buses.

"We've learned that the newer buses have a button at the back of the bus that the bus driver has to get up and physically push," Alaina Prawitt said. "They are forced to walk the aisle and make sure there are no kids there."

Travis Prawitt said he wants to see similar safeguards implemented statewide.

"We want to see every bus in the state of Utah equipped with some sort of device that does not allow a driver to skip their aisle check," he said.

In response to the incident, the Tooele County School District said transportation staff has reinforced bus-clearing procedures with all drivers. District leaders also presented proposed child-check enhancements to the Board of Education on Tuesday that would add safeguards and verification measures aimed at preventing similar incidents.

District officials said they have remained in contact with the families involved and continue to review additional safety measures.

"We are incredibly thankful the students are safe," the district said in its statement. "We are also committed to implementing additional safety measures to further limit the possibility of human error in these situations."

The district said its responsibility now is "to learn from this incident, strengthen our safeguards, and do everything we can to make sure something similar doesn't happen again."

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