Bus driver fired after boy with Down syndrome falls asleep on bus and tries to hitchhike home

Hope Schreiber
·Writer

A school busing company employee has been fired after leaving a sleeping student on board. That student, 11-year-old Evan Clifford, who has Down syndrome, woke up not knowing where he was and attempted to hitchhike home.

Evan's parents had put him on the bus to Quarryville Elementary School in Lancaster County, Penn. on Monday. He fell asleep on the bus, and Eshbach Busing officials said that the driver, a school-appointed bus aide, and school personnel did not see him, according to WGAL.

Dana Clifford, Evan's mother, said that he rarely misses school and she was shocked his absence wasn't noticed.

"I can't imagine how you cannot check and can just miss a child," she told the news station.

After dropping the students off at the elementary school, the driver took the bus home with Evan still inside. When Evan woke up, according to Dana, he didn't know where he was, so he walked to a busy intersection to try to hitchhike. He was 10 miles away from his home.

“He was scared, he was crying, he couldn’t find his way home,” Joshua Clifford, Evan’s father, told Lancaster Online.

Dana Clifford credits two women who stopped to ask Evan if he needed help with saving his life. While he did not know how to get home, he luckily knew his mother's cell phone number and told the women.

"He could have been raped or murdered," she said of the incident. "I can't thank [the women] enough for what they did."

Days later, Dana is still shaken by the experience. “My wife’s a mess. She doesn’t want to put him on a bus,” Joshua said. “You can imagine.”

The couple has met with district officials to discuss alternative ways to transport Evan, such as a van. For now, they will drive him to school.

Officials with Eshbach Busing released the following statement: "On the morning of Monday, May 20th, a student fell asleep during the course of the elementary bus run. Neither our school bus driver, the school district-appointed bus aide, or school personnel noticed the sleeping student while unloading students at the elementary school. Our driver and aide left the school. The bus aide was dropped off at her house and our driver proceeded to park her bus at her house without performing a required post-trip bus inspection. Unfortunately, the sleeping student was left on the bus as the driver entered her home. This is unacceptable and we apologize for jeopardizing student safety. The bus driver has been terminated for failing to follow safety protocol. We will work with the school district to make sure this will never happen again."

Solanco School District also provided a statement.

"The district contracts with a bus company to provide transportation for our students,” it reads. “There are checks that all bus drivers are required to complete at the end of their runs that did not happen in this case. District officials have met with the parents and are working with the transportation contractor to address this personnel matter. The safety of all students is a top priority."

The couple informed Lancaster Online that they would reach out to a lawyer, but they did not specify if they would take legal actions against the school district or the bus company. For now, they're more focused on ensuring this doesn't happen to another family.

“If we don't do something, something else is going to happen to another kid,” Joshua said. “Me and my wife wouldn't be able to live with ourselves if we didn’t do something to fix the system.”

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