While our first day of Kindergarten for Ty and Stone was fairly uneventful (other than the eventfulness of it being their first day), the same can't be said for day number two.
Everything started off normally enough. We got the boys ready for school and Hany dropped them off at their respective locations. Since Stone's school lasts until 11:30 (and Ty is in full day), Hany left the house at 11:20 to pick up Stone. I decided to work from home that day because I didn't want to disrupt the morning delivery of the boys to school, and Renee had an early meeting. As I quickly learned, it turned out to be a good decision.
I was sitting at my desk working, when suddenly I head the sound of a truck or bus driving up our street. I glanced out the window and was dumbfounded to see a yellow school bus pull up and stop in front of our house – with Stone sitting in one of the seats!
Prior to the start of Kindergarten, Renee and I both made sure to tell the school on multiple occasions that Stone would not be taking the bus, because we had an Au Pair who would take care of driving him to and from school. Renee even pointed this out to Stone's Kindergarten teacher during orientation the week before school began.
So I scrambled outside to get Stone (and figure out what happened). I asked the bus driver why Stone was on the bus and she told me that his teacher took him to the bus and put him on. I was still dumbfounded and told the driver that Stone was not supposed to take the bus and explained (again) that we had an Au Pair who was responsible for his transportation. I felt bad for the driver, because it wasn't her fault, but she could tell that I was very upset. She said that she was told that he wouldn't need a ride on the first day of school, but didn't know anything beyond that. Obviously a case of poor communication on the school's part.
I asked the driver how Stone did on the bus (he seemed OK to me – although he was very anxious and happy to get off the bus) and she said that he was pretty upset during the short ride home. I'm sure he was – he's never been on a bus before in his life! And, as we learned later, he likely saw Hany standing on the sidewalk when the bus passed her. He probably had no idea what was going on – or where he was going.
Fortunately Stone was unaffected by the ordeal. He went into the house and immediately searched for snacks and his iPad. He was in a great mood immediately – and the rest of the day. After we came back into the house, my mobile phone rang and I saw it was Renee calling. She was very upset and told me that Stone had accidentally been placed on a school bus and she didn't know where he was. I told her that he was home safe and everything was OK but we both were very shaken by the episode.
Apparently Hany went to the school and waited for Stone (as she had with Renee the previous day) but didn't see him exit the school (or enter the school bus). After waiting for a period of time – and noticing that all kids had left the school and busses departed – she called Renee and asked her what she should do. Renee smartly told her to go immediately to the school office to find out what was going on. Once there, she gave her phone to Renee and that's when Renee found out that Stone's teacher had placed him on the bus. Renee immediately panicked. "He doesn't know where he lives! He can't talk! What is he going to do?"
Fortunately, the school bus driver did have our address and she did deliver him home safely.
But the hassles weren't done for us. Stone was scheduled for a Noon appointment with his occupational therapist. Hany was going to drive him straight to the appointment from school. Now I had to call the center, explain what happened and determine if we could get him in another time. Fortunately there was a 1 pm appointment available, so I secured that time.
Hany fed Stone his lunch and he was able to play a bit before heading out for his appointment, but Renee and I both had a very unsettling feeling for the rest of the day. So many things could have gone wrong. Later in the afternoon Renee called the school principal to discuss the incident and amazingly, she had no idea about it. Renee read her the riot act and told her she didn't exactly feel confident in the school's ability to keep Stone safe. The principal apologized and said that she would meet with the team to discuss their procedures because there were obvious mistakes made.
Friday morning Renee and I received an email apology from Stone's teacher, who assured us this would never happen again.
We wondered if the incident would have any lingering impact on Stone (if he would be upset being dropped off) but everything went off without a problem on Friday. Stone was hand-delivered to Hany by his teachers, and they went off to enjoy the sunshine at a local park while they waited to pick up Ty later.
