Mother in Louisiana seeks answers after student with special needs left on bus, suffers heat exhaustion

VERMILION PARISH, La. (KLFY) — A mother of a student at Leblanc Elementary School is speaking out after her 10-year-old daughter Kris’zyrii Jones, who has special needs, was left on a special education bus all day before Spring Break.

Sundi Jones, the mother, said the incident happened on April 16. She received a call around 2 p.m. that her daughter was left on the bus.

“The superintendent called me and told me that the bus driver returned to the bus to go to her pick up load and Kris’zyrii was still on the bus,” said the mother.

What started as a normal morning routine of sending her daughter off to school turned into a nightmare with one phone call. Jones was told her daughter never made it to school.

“He told me that the bus driver found her on the bus. So automatically, like, everything just stopped for me. Then he reassured me that she was okay. The only question I had after that was did she make it to school? And he was like, No, she was on the bus all day with nothing to eat. Nothing to drink,” said Jones. “The school didn’t notify me that she was absent or anything.”

Jones said when she took her daughter to the emergency room she was suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration.

“When we got there, I asked her what did she do for those hours and she told me she cried, prayed and looked at the trees and that just hurts me,” said Jones. “You know, to know that my child didn’t have anything to eat or drink. Wasn’t able to use the bathroom. Even if she tried to get off the bus, she couldn’t. So that was another heartbreaking thing for me as a mother.”

Jones said the normal bus was broken. So the bus that she was on was actually smaller than the SPED bus. Jones added her daughter has epilepsy.

“A lot of people kept asking why she didn’t try to get off the bus, which is a normal question. It may seem like it would click, but it does. She rides the SPED bus for a reason,” explained Jones. “I honestly feel like with the bus monitor on the bus, two adults, they need to reassure and double check, triple check that this won’t happen again.”

Jones expressed her uncertainty about when she will be able to return her daughter to school, conveying the challenges she’s facing during this time.

“To be honest, she’s afraid. I’m afraid. I can’t trust anybody right now at the moment, to be honest,” said Jones.

Vermilion Parish Superintendent Tommy Byler said he was made aware of the situation. The district personnel immediately placed the driver and monitor on leave. The situation is under investigation. Pending results will determine the next actions for the school system.

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