The boy’s grandmother said the school didn’t realize the mistake until his mother came to the school to pick up her son and he was nowhere to be found.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – The start of the school week was a frightening one for a 5-year-old after he was left wandering alone after school.
Extra eyes were on 5-year-old Zontrail Brinson as he returned to class on Thursday after his family says a mistake at his school put him in danger.
“It’s scary, I wouldn’t want to be alone by myself you know nonverbal,” said Rosalind Derrick, Zontrail’s grandmother.
Derrick told WSMV that Zontrail, who has autism and is nonverbal, is supposed to be picked up from Ida B. Wells Elementary School by his parent and was mistakenly put on a school bus after class. He was dropped off on 7th Street and Howerton near Meigs Middle School and left wandering alone for nearly an hour.
Derrick says the school didn’t realize the mistake until his mother came to the school to pick up her son and he was nowhere to be found.
“The worst-case scenario. I guess either getting hit by a car or getting kidnapped by someone you know,” Derrick said. “It’s something that shouldn’t have happened.”
When WSMV asked how it happened, Sean Braisted, the spokesperson for Metro Nashville Public Schools released a statement saying, “As part of the onboarding process, all kindergarten students zoned for transportation receive a bus tag. In this case, the teacher mistakenly placed the tag on the student’s backpack, and he was placed on the bus at dismissal, despite the parent’s plan for him to be picked up.”
“The bus driver had a conversation with him, but he didn’t get a response so Zontrail got off the bus and proceeded to walk down the sidewalk.” Derrick says even after the mistake, she wished the bus driver did more. “When you didn’t see an adult, you should have just called the school or taken him back to the school.”
Derrick says an officer found Zontrail near a playground and he was reunited with his family. However, she says its fear no parent should ever face.
“I’m a praying grandmother. I was just praying and began to trust that he would be found and everything would be okay,” she said.
Metro Nashville Public Schools continued their statement with, “We deeply regret the distress this caused the family and are grateful the student was found safe. As soon as the school was notified, staff and an SRO responded quickly and located the student at a park near his home. The school and transportation teams are reviewing the incident and reinforcing dismissal protocols to help ensure this does not happen again.”