Parents panic, confusion after child left on Pontiac school bus

PONTIAC, Mich. (WXYZ) — What was supposed to be an exciting first day of school turned into a hectic afternoon for two Pontiac parents.

Their child, who was returning home on the school bus, did not get off at his stop.

Alizabeth Fitch and Delshawn Cooper said their son’s school bus was scheduled to drop him off at the bus stop at 3:25 p.m.

When the bus arrived at the stop, Fitch said four other children got off the bus, but not their son, Ka’dynce. The driver pulled over.

So she said she went to his school, International Technology Academy, and asked the staff where her 8-year-old son was.

“(My husband) pulls up and they come out and they’re like, ‘No, no, no, no. He’s with his dad.’ What do you mean he’s with his dad? His dad’s right here. That’s when I lost control. I felt sick. I couldn’t breathe. Did you give my baby to someone?” Fitch recalled.

In a Facebook Live video broadcast by her husband, the distraught mother can be seen talking on the phone.

In the video, she said: “I need to know where the shipment is. No one knows where it is. Can you check it for me?”

Parents say administrators tried to help but are outraged by how other staff treated them during the chaos.

Cooper said another admin “called the police on me” when he began recording on Facebook Live.

The administrator can be heard saying: “Yes, it’s a man. He doesn’t want to leave the building. We asked him to leave. He’s swearing and angry. We just asked him to leave.”

Cooper replied, “Yes, because you lost my son!”

Watch a snippet of the Facebook live broadcast below:

Longer Video: Watch More Facebook Live Stories from Student’s Father

Deputies arrived. The county said that was standard in these types of situations. But someone made a second call to the sheriff’s office.

At one point, Cooper films the administrator and the bus. The administrator approaches Cooper.

Cooper told the man, “Don’t touch my phone!”

The administrator responded, “Get that camera out of my face!”

Cooper said, “What are you (expletive) gonna do? Do something! What are you gonna do?”

The administrator said, “Get this out of my sight.”

Cooper said, “What are you going to do?”

At 4:40 p.m., Fitch learned her son was safe.

“I called the bus garage and was waiting for someone. A guy picked up and told me, ‘We found him. He was sleeping on the bus. Go to his stop,'” Fitch said.

Cooper added: “That was over an hour later.”

Fitch said, “4:40 p.m.”

7 News Detroit spoke with the county transit office and learned Ka’dynce was found by the bus driver after her last stop.

The district said the boy was conscious and alert. The district previously said there was a commotion when the man picked up another child, which led to other children on the bus telling the driver that Ka’dynce had already gotten off.

Ka’dynce’s parents appeal to district authorities to tighten procedures.

“When they walk into that school, and even when they walk out of that school, until they get home, it’s your job to make sure you know where the kids are at all times. Why didn’t you know where my kid was? And if he was so-called ‘conscious,’ why didn’t he get off at the bus stop?” Fitch said.

The district declined to be interviewed on camera. However, 7 News Detroit obtained the following statement from Interim Superintendent Kimberly Leverette: