A preschooler was left alone on a Dallas ISD school bus for seven hours on Tuesday.
While 4-year-old Araiya Pruitt was on the bus, outdoor temperatures reached up to the mid-90s, but the temperature inside the bus was likely much hotter.
The young girl is non-verbal and autistic. She is a student at Clinton P. Russell Elementary School, where the bus driver thought they dropped her off around 8 a.m. on Tuesday after picking her up from her home half an hour before.
At the end of the school day, the child’s father said that his wife got a call from the school.
“[She was] on the other line with me after that, hysterical, saying that our daughter never made it to school, saying that our daughter was left in the school bus for seven hours,” Robert Pruitt told Fox 4 KDFW.
The preschooler had been left at the bus depot in Lancaster all day long.
“She is autistic, she is non-verbal, she couldn’t say anything and bring attention to herself. It’s probably part of the reason she was left,” said Pruitt.
Another bus driver discovered the child in the parked bus around 2:30 p.m. She had soiled herself and was taken to the hospital for evaluation and to be given fluids. She was discharged the same day.
“I depended on them. I trusted them with my child, and they dropped the ball. I’m just thankful I still have her,” her father said, per Fox 4.
Bus drivers in Dallas ISD are required to follow a hand-off process when students arrive at the school and do a sweep of the buses at the end of their shifts.
Pruitt said that Dallas ISD allegedly fired the driver; however, that has not been confirmed. The district also said a criminal investigation is underway, NBC 5 DFW reported.
“People lose their jobs for way less, go to jail for way less. To just say he has been fired, and my daughter is traumatized and suffering. It doesn’t bring me any solace,” he said.
In a statement sent to Fox 4, Dallas ISD said, “Student safety is our highest priority. We are appalled about the incident involving a pre-K student who remained on a bus yesterday. We are grateful the student is well and are conducting a thorough investigation. Dallas ISD is committed to the safety and well-being of all our students.”
The district showed the girl’s parents video footage from the bus.
“I could see her face, I could see that she was exhausted, I could see that she was tired, I could see that it took a toll on her body and her mind,” Keturah Crockett, Pruitt’s mother, said, per NBC 5.
She told the news outlet that the video showed the bus driver not driving the bus straight to the bus depot in Lancaster after dropping the rest of the kids off at school.
“He stopped at a Valero gas station and got out and left her in the bus,” she said. “Then he stopped at a McDonald’s and again left her on the bus.”
Previous polling conducted by The Dallas Express suggests that many parents believe Dallas ISD suffers from mismanagement.