NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Newport News family is demanding answers from school transportation leaders after a scary mix-up on the first day of school.
Hidenwood Elementary School student Shariiyah Ackiss, 7, was supposed to get off the bus at Deer Park Elementary School on Monday for an after-school program, but instead got off early at Jefferson Avenue and Pavilion Place.
Shariiyah said she quickly realized she had made a mistake, telling 13News Now, “I got off the bus, I searched for Mommy, and then I got back on the bus.”
The 7-year-old said when she told the driver she didn’t see her mom, the driver responded, “Once you get off the bus, you can’t get back on.”
Shariiyah’s mother, Shanell Ackiss, said she found out about the incident from her son’s babysitter, who called her when Shariiyah showed up after walking home by herself.
“[The babysitter] said, ‘She’s drenched in sweat,’” Ackiss said. “Then Deer Park called me and said ‘Shariiyah’s not here,’ and that’s when I found out the driver didn’t drop her off at her correct spot."
Tonya Barnes, Shariiyah’s grandmother, is a former school bus driver herself, and said student confusion on the first day is common, but the driver’s alleged behavior is unacceptable.
Barnes said, “In all my years of driving a school bus, if you have a child in elementary school, or wherever, and they get off the bus, you say, ‘Baby, come up here, let’s see what’s going on. We’re going to find where you get off.’”
Barnes said she met with school leaders Tuesday and saw video of the incident.
“What I saw on that tape was disturbing,” she told 13News Now. She claimed a manifest -- or list of where each child gets off -- was nowhere to be seen.
“What if my granddaughter didn’t know where she lives? That just gives me chills thinking about it.”
The family now hopes to spread the word and prevent a similar incident, possibly with a worse outcome.
“I was in tears all day yesterday,” Ackiss said. “I could not stop crying because I was thinking of the what-ifs. Thank God she’s here, but yesterday could have gone completely left.”
Barnes and Ackiss say they don’t blame the school or the after-school care center for the mix-up. Instead, they want accountability from the school’s transportation division and the driver.
“This is your job,” Ackiss explained. “I felt as though you’re saying, ‘I’m right and you’re wrong and I don’t care where you go.’”
A representative with the school division told 13News Now in a statement: “Newport News Public Schools is actively working to address this situation with the student's family. Student safety is our top priority.”